Crypren Ransomware

Posted: May 16, 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:	40

First Seen:	May 16, 2016
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Crypren Ransomware is a data encryptor that attacks various file formats, including media and documents, by sending them through an encryption algorithm. The Crypren Ransomware follows this attack by depositing a message on your PC asking for money within a week before deleting your files. Besides availing yourself of free decryptors, malware analysts can suggest using backup restoration techniques, although you always should remove the Crypren Ransomware beforehand with whatever anti-malware tools are available.

The Dangers of the Even Smallest of a Trojan's Ransom

One of the ongoing, evolving aspects of the black market for threatening file encryption is the wild fluctuation in ransom values. Con artists who are extremely confident in their programming skills or are using social engineering techniques might ask for very high sums of over a thousand dollars. Others, like the Crypren Ransomware, strive for numbers of payments over quality, asking for nothing more than one-tenth of a Bitcoin (under forty USD).

The Crypren Ransomware's 2016 campaign uses still-unconfirmed distribution methods. Currently, malware researchers found no indications of the Trojan being capable of installing itself without assistance from additional threats. E-mail is the most popularly-used infection vector for threatening file encryptors, but other techniques, such as website-based exploits, sometimes are put to use.

Once proceeded past the original installation process, the Crypren Ransomware scans your PC, searching for documents (TXT, DOC), images (JPG), Web pages (HTML), music (MP3, MP4), spreadsheets (XLS), and other, 'personal content' formats. The Crypren Ransomware then sends these files through what malware researchers estimate of being an AES CBC 256-bit encryption algorithm, and adds the '.encrypted' tag to each one.

The Crypren Ransomware then loads a Web page ransom message informing the victim of the situation and asking for a comparatively small Bitcoin fee. The Crypren Ransomware also warns of a one-week time limit before the Crypren Ransomware deletes your content automatically.

No Need to Cry Over a Crypren Ransomware Payment

The Crypren Ransomware poses the same risks and shows the same shortcomings as most other Trojans with a data-encrypting payload. Although the Crypren Ransomware may delete your files once its timer expires, appropriate security strategies can remove the Crypren Ransomware before this occurs, leaving the victim with several options for data recovery. Keeping redundant backups in secure locations is, as usual, malware experts' top-recommended strategy for bypassing the need to reverse a file-encrypting attack.

Other PC security researchers have provided free decryption options for Linux machines. Research is ongoing into providing Windows ports of this tool. While still in progress, these software developments show that threats like the Crypren Ransomware rely more on bluster than technological prowess, and cannot block your data from being retrieved in perpetuity necessarily.

Disinfecting your PC and removing the Crypren Ransomware will provide your system with a sterile and safe environment for recovering your content later. Delete the Crypren Ransomware with any preferred anti-malware products, being sure to scan your PC for other threats, as well, such as Trojan downloaders that could reinstall this threat. While many file encryptors delete themselves after executing their payloads, this behavior never should be assumed of a new threat.

The Crypren Ransomware is, perhaps, humble in its ransoms for a good reason: its authors know that there are already numerous solutions to its attacks, available to any PC owner who can search the Web.

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:

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\k.exe

File name: k.exe
Size: 818.68 KB (818688 bytes)
MD5: f6a8d7a4291c55020101d046371a8bda
Detection count: 84
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: May 18, 2016