ESCAL Ransomware

The ESCAL Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that's part of the Sfile Ransomware family. Its campaigns may target business entities through brute-force exploits or e-mail tactics, and lock their files through the ESCAL Ransomware's encryption routine. Reliable anti-malware products may eliminate the ESCAL Ransomware, and secure backups are a necessary resource for recovering data freely.

The Network Penetration Leaving a Lasting Mark

A small family of Trojans circulating concurrently with the virile Ransomware-as-a-Services is competing for their victims with some positive results, at least, for the threat actors. The ESCAL Ransomware is a new notch in the belt of the Sfile Ransomware's family, a collection of what's currently a handful of Trojan variants, such as the Sfile2 Ransomware and the Sfile3 Ransomware. Although the ESCAL Ransomware uses a different name and tagging string, in other metrics, it corresponds to this group and is an all-too-familiar form of encryption Trojan.

The ESCAL Ransomware is a Windows Trojan that compromises networks of business entities and, possibly, other targets, through undisclosed exploits. Most methods that malware experts are familiar with in these cases involve crafted e-mail messages with harmful attachments or brute-force-cracking a critical login combination. As is usually the goal, the ESCAL Ransomware's 'break-in' is for encrypting, and thereby locking, media files like documents, etc., for ransom.

The simplicity of the ESCAL Ransomware's payload may cause problems for some users. Unfortunately, the threat actors didn't include significant limiters on the parameters for the encrypting of data. This laxness means that the ESCAL Ransomware can encrypt other files besides the traditional targets, including even Program Files components.

An Inexpensively Honest Way of Holding onto Your Data

Malware researchers can't confirm the ESCAL Ransomware infections that cause deliberate or even accidental harm to the Windows OS. Still, other programs and software are at risk and may require total reinstallation. Most victims will find the media risk from the ESCAL Ransomware's payload as the more pressing issue – since it represents the potential loss of irreplaceable databases, documents, and other workplace records and projects. Should the ESCAL Ransomware find its way onto a home environment PC, it poses just as much of a danger to everyday pictures, music collections and similar content.

Backup maintenance is the lynchpin to preventing the ESCAL Ransomware from placing its victims into a ransom-vulnerable position. Although criminals sometimes honor their deals and unlock the files for a fee, in other cases, they take the money without any service, provide a non-working decryptor, or trick users into installing even more threats. Victims should take the ESCAL Ransomware's Notepad ransom note with a grain of salt and ponder the consequences of any interactions with care.

All users can protect themselves by not enabling macros in suspicious documents, scanning downloads like documents, and using appropriate password security for all logins. Anti-malware tools also should identify and remove the ESCAL Ransomware, according to the sample detection rates.

The ESCAL Ransomware is a quiet addition to an equally below-the-radar family of Trojans. Its payoff requires that victims take, not just it, but its entire underground industry, for granted as a peril – and most businesses, hopefully, aren't falling for it.