Crypton Ransomware

Posted: November 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:	50

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

The Crypton Ransomware is a Trojan that encrypts files on your PC to keep you from being able to open them. Con artists may generate revenue from the Crypton Ransomware's attacks by demanding ransom money for giving you a decryptor service, although such services are highly unreliable. Taking other means of protecting your essential media beforehand, and using anti-malware products to block or remove the Crypton Ransomware, are the measures malware experts primarily endorse.

Why Some Archives are Best Kept Closed

Some of the simplest but most effective tools in a threat actor's collection include mislabeling their files with incorrect identifiers that lead victims into installing them carelessly. An otherwise standard example of file-encrypting Trojans, the Crypton Ransomware uses the above strategy to gain system access from its installer's pretending to be a WinRAR-compressed archive. The Crypton Ransomware's authors also took the time to confuse existing security solutions by giving their product a (now invalid) signed certificate.

After the victim installs the Crypton Ransomware, the Trojan scans for thirty-one different file data, including PNG or JPG images, DOC and RTF documents, ZIP and RAR archives, and HTML Web pages. The Crypton Ransomware encrypts all of the files matching its list of formats and estimates the system's native language so that it can display a pop-up message in either Russian or English.

The two pop-ups are identical, other than the language shift, and include standard demands for Bitcoin payments before restoring your encoded content. Malware experts also are finding backup ransom notes in TXT formats and potential desktop wallpaper hijackings promoting a quote by the novelist Oscar Wilde.

When Forgiveness Doesn't Pay

Although the famous Oscar Wilde saying about forgiving one's enemies may have pertinence in overall society, it's less relevant to one's daily handling of PC security significantly. Delivering Bitcoins to the Crypton Ransomware's threat actor does not ensure that your data will receive any decryption help necessarily, or the assistance will work as intended without damaging your files even more than previously.

Some AV brands are identifying the Crypton Ransomware as being a member of the Hidden Tear family. Although there are symptoms in common between the two, malware experts find little evidence that the Crypton Ransomware is a new release of the prolific Hidden Tear group of threats. Unfortunately, that means that PC users will need to use backups for recovering any encrypted content until the security industry has time to develop a new decryption program.

No matter what your nationality or place of residence might be, the Crypton Ransomware is a hazard to any data you save on your computer without taking the time to duplicate it elsewhere. The persistence of threats like this Trojan shows just how essential it is to have anti-malware programs that could remove the Crypton Ransomware before occurring any attacks that you can't undo.

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: 389.12 KB (389120 bytes)
MD5: 3b1436993c031702b2c46b78c24da658
Detection count: 98
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 5, 2017

file.exe

File name: file.exe
Size: 16.65 MB (16651688 bytes)
MD5: 1aee345a73b07c3ec4c829c1a335c38b
Detection count: 13
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 16, 2016

%APPDATA%\crypton.exe

File name: crypton.exe
Size: 62.97 KB (62976 bytes)
MD5: 237bf11449a2018b058643c38f12430c
Detection count: 12
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %APPDATA%
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 16, 2016