'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware

Posted: October 20, 2016

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:	16

First Seen:	October 20, 2016
Last Seen:	August 17, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware is a Trojan that encrypts files on your PC and inserts an e-mail address into their names. The con artists operating from that address may pose as security technicians or request money in exchange for helping you decrypt your data. If possible, use other methods of restoring any data, in addition to any standard anti-malware tools capable of identifying and removing the 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware from your hard drive.

Slimming Down Your Files to Fatten a Con Artist's Wallet

Ransoming strategies vary wildly between different threat campaigns and may range from upfront attempts to frighten a victim to passive-aggressive tactics that offer to 'fix' your PC in exchange for payment. One of the most succinct social engineering patterns malware experts see in recent threats is a tendency to provide contact information and nothing else, leaving the details of the extortion to the con artists or an automated mail handler. The 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware is one such threat accompanying its file encrypting features with this minimalist method.

The 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware installs itself through a standard executable file with its name consisting of a random string of characters. The encryption function targets data types, such as documents, and, as usual, shows no evidence of displaying symptoms that would alert a victim during its activation. The only sign of the attack taking place and locking your media with encryption technology is the changes of names to the non-functioning data. The 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware appends both its e-mail address and an extra extension to each encrypted piece of data.

Malware experts have not correlated any other Trojan campaigns with the 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware's tag of choice, the '.tar' string, which also has associations with a legitimate compression format. Although the extension is identical, content enciphered by the 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware is not converted to the real '.tar' format, and is unusable until the victim leverages a decryption solution.

Past scenarios of contact between victims and the 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware's address lead to typical extortion demands, with con artists offering to restore your data in return for Bitcoin payments of four thousand dollars. Notably, the Trojan doesn't advertise this higher-than-normal ransom sum or the fact that the victim is expected to pay a ransom, anywhere in its payload.

Cutting the Fat Off of a PC Extortion Campaign

The 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware is a possible variant of Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Rotor and other variants of that same family of file encrypting Trojans, but no public decryptors have been found viable against this threat. Current versions of the 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware don't transfer network data to a remote server, as is typical of Trojans preserving decryption keys in a remote threat actor's possession. However, the threat actors administrating this campaign do offer 'trial' decryption services before receiving payments, most likely enabled by log data the victim transfers on request.

The 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware's extortion techniques suggest that its campaign targets non-private entities, such as corporate business servers. Most infection methods for these attacks require either poor password management on the victim's part or unsafe e-mail interactions, such as opening an attached document hosting Trojan-installing vulnerabilities. Until malware experts can further narrow down the exploits at work, use your anti-malware products and safe Web-browsing behavior to detect and delete the 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware before it encrypts any content.

While the 'Cocoslim98@gmail.com' Ransomware includes a hibernation feature, 'sleeping' Trojans are not necessarily non-threatening ones, and you should regard this threat as both an active danger to your finances and your files.

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:

dir\name.exe

File name: name.exe
Size: 90.11 KB (90112 bytes)
MD5: 7451118588498f31d1ef9e6094b18194
Detection count: 5
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: dir
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 17, 2022