CORE Ransomware

The CORE Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that's a variant of the AES-Matrix Ransomware. The family often compromises business entities' servers and locks their media files, holding them for ransom. All Windows users should take appropriate precautions regarding backups and have their anti-malware products isolate or delete the CORE Ransomware immediately.

The Yet-To-Be-Sated Hunger of a Trojan Family for Ransoms

Only shortly after the confirmation of an FDFK22 Ransomware variant, the AES-Matrix Ransomware family is spawning again, with new forks of its file-locking software for targeting victims in campaigns with still-unknown targeting. The CORE Ransomware, one of the two threats in question, could be run by the same threat actor responsible for the ANN Ransomware, due to similar naming conventions that break from previous patterns. Whether it's alone or part of a pair, the Trojan's capabilities for blocking files are harmful to most Windows users.

As one would anticipate from its family's name, the CORE Ransomware's crowning feature is its AES algorithm encryption, which locks files from opening. Like similar file-locker Trojans, it targets ransom-worthy data and prioritizes formats like documents or images, but may block most content that's not part of the Windows OS. Besides this damage to the file, each file's name also receives a random string, e-mail addresses, and secondary extensions that reference the CORE Ransomware directly.

The CORE Ransomware employs the same ransom note as the ANN Ransomware, the AB89 Ransomware, and the AL8G Ransomware variants. This RTF document asks, in broken English, for the victim's cooperation in paying a ransom for a file unlocker or decryptor. Its only new characteristics are changes to e-mail addresses, although users should avoid paying and furthering this Trojan industry's growth when they can do so.

Getting Down to the Core of Trojan Problems

With recent attacks from AES-Matrix Ransomware's family, its limited headline potential is increasingly meaningless compared to the group's enthusiastic, if quiet, distribution. Users should treat the possibility of an attack as being capable of damaging all files on vulnerable Windows PCs and store their backups with appropriate security steps. Local backups, mainly the Restore Points and the Shadow Volume Copies, are highly-unreliable against most file-locking Trojans, whether from AL8G Ransomware's family or dozens of others.

Most vulnerabilities relevant to AES-Matrix Ransomware campaigns are remediable with minor actions from the PC's user. Always browse the Web with features like Flash and JavaScript off by default. Install software updates as soon as possible for lowering the presence of non-zero-day vulnerabilities. Use strong passwords that attackers can't 'hack' with brute-force guesswork tools. Malware experts recommend being careful with e-mails that bear attachments or potentially-obfuscated weblinks especially.

Dependable brands of anti-malware utilities will act promptly and remove AL8G Ransomware before it becomes a problem. They can't decrypt files or restore media directly, which, in the AES-Matrix Ransomware family, requires bypassing additional encryption protection and usually is impossible.

At the CORE Ransomware's center, there lies little that other threats just like it aren't already wielding against the careless. Computer administration is a responsibility as much as a technological benefit, and those who take it too lightly will end up on the wrong side of a high-tech robbery.