Clouded Ransomware

Posted: May 5, 2017

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Threat Level:	10/10
Infected PCs:	7

First Seen:	May 5, 2017
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Clouded Ransomware is a Trojan that locks your files by encrypting them. Since the Trojan doesn't save the unique keys associated with this function, even paying their ransom demands will not restore your media. Most PC users should make regular backups to keep their files from being damaged from threats of this category, and various anti-malware products can quarantine or delete the Clouded Ransomware as soon as they detect it.

A Cloud Whose Shadow may not be Easy to Shake Off

Con artists aren't noted for their honesty particularly, and the threat industry is a pointed indicator of how wrongdoing and lying go hand-in-hand. While malware experts often see Trojans delivering wrong information to the people they attack, it is so clear-cut as with the Clouded Ransomware rarely, a new file-encrypting threat. Its authors are using the hope of decryption help to make their profits but, at the same time, crafted the Clouded Ransomware in such a way as to make decryption impossible.

The Clouded Ransomware's threat actors have recent histories of abusing the voting systems of some prominent cyber security databases to obfuscate the threatening nature of the Trojan and its main executable. Although limited additional data is available, malware experts don't connect the Clouded Ransomware to other, previously known families of file-encrypting threats, like Hidden Tear.

Although its installation method is likewise unknown, other parts of the Clouded Ransomware's payload are under corroboration:

The Clouded Ransomware scans the compromised PC's hard drive to identify files such as documents, photos, and other formats that it can attack without damaging the OS.
This media is encrypted with a key that the Clouded Ransomware generates newly for each file, locking them.
The Trojan also inflicts every filename for the above content with a '.cloud' extension for identification and branding purposes.
The Clouded Ransomware concludes by generating a pop-up window including advanced HTML elements, such as a supposed decryption button, and the ransoming demands: 0.1 Bitcoins to the author's wallet. Unknown to the victims is the fact that the Clouded Ransomware doesn't save its decryption key information, making the files irretrievable.

The Quickest Way to Get Your Hard Drive from Shade to Sunlight

The Clouded Ransomware is a poignant illustration of the problems with taking a con artist's words at face value: its authors don't have any access to the decryption data required for unlocking your files, which makes paying any Bitcoin ransoms pointless. Victims waiting for symptoms of attacks like the Clouded Ransomware's pop-up before responding to them may find their hard drive's contents lost with no recourse. For these reasons, malware researchers endorse accompanying any standard security practices on your PC with backups that you should store on another device.

Just as encrypted files are sometimes not decryptable, Bitcoin payments aren't subject to any refunds. Users can protect their PCs from threats like the Clouded Ransomware preemptively, such as by disabling JavaScript, avoiding spam e-mails, and having anti-malware protection for intercepting drive-by-download attacks. Deleting the Clouded Ransomware with any quality anti-malware program is advisable for basic security purposes but will not restore access to any locked files.

If your work is worth paying for, it's worth backing up to a secondary device. The digital equivalent of unpleasant weather like the Clouded Ransomware, unlike the real thing, is under your control to prevent and mitigate.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

File.exe

File name: File.exe
Size: 677.88 KB (677888 bytes)
MD5: b6c70f89f19670923f3f490ed5331395
Detection count: 42
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: May 5, 2017