Exotic Squad Ransomware

The Exotic Squad Ransomware is a Trojan that encrypts your PC's files, targeting widely-used formats like JPEG or MP#, and displays a message demanding ransom money for restoring them. Since the Exotic Squad Ransomware includes the threat of deleting additional content or interfering with security software, malware analysts encourage disabling this threat as soon as possible. Use standard recovery procedures before running anti-malware tools able to delete the Exotic Squad Ransomware, and restore any files necessary through backups.

The Not-So-Exotic Nature of Cipher-Based Threats

Using various means of coercion is key to any threat campaign that needs the consent of the victims to profit. These methods of persuasion may combine negative and positive feedback elements, or rely on intimidating the PC operator with threats towards their saved data. The Exotic Squad Ransomware uses the latter tactic, backing up its threats with additional features meant for crippling any obvious security countermeasures.

The Exotic Squad Ransomware is, despite its name, an unsophisticated, Visual Basic-based threat, most likely designed by a novice coder independently. The Exotic Squad Ransomware does include sufficient sophistication to search for sandbox-protected environments, and also may terminate programs such as Task Manager, CCleaner, the Registry Editor and other, security-related tools. After running these checks, the Exotic Squad Ransomware goes through its other functions:

• The Exotic Squad Ransomware encrypts files based on their location (it primarily targets default Windows directories such as Downloads, My Pictures and the Desktop) and their formats. Malware experts took note of the Trojan's whitelist harboring over a hundred, popular formats.
• The Exotic Squad Ransomware generates a Windows error message announcing the 'EXOTIC virus' infection and warns that any attempts to disinfect the PC will result in hard drive-erasing counterattacks, a feature that malware experts can't corroborate currently.
• An additional, HTML-based pop-up delivers the Exotic Squad Ransomware's full ransoming message, with payment for your data's restoration demanded through Bitcoins.
• The Exotic Squad Ransomware also may reset the infected PC's desktop background to another image; the current samples use a stock image of Adolf Hitler.

Dictating Your Computer's Software without a Dictator's Say-So

Even with many of its threats being empty ones not backed up by appropriate features, the Exotic Squad Ransomware does represent enough of a threat to your PC's safety that malware experts advise its immediate deletion. When dealing with threats that may continue attacking your PC (such as by deleting new files every time you restart), you should use standard 'safe boot' procedures that can prevent threatening software from loading. Restart your PC and tap the appropriate key for accessing Safe Mode, as determined by your OS; Windows 10 users may use F5 to access the 'Safe Mode with Networking' option.

Contrary to its Windows alert, the Exotic Squad Ransomware isn't a virus and doesn't distribute itself in a virus-like manner. Although its current infection methods are unknown, malware experts most usually see similar campaigns taking advantage of e-mail attachments or links for compromising business servers. Other PC users may experience compromises by downloading from unsafe sources, such as torrents. In either case, an Exotic Squad Ransomware infection has the potential to cause irrevocable harm due to the lack of a public decryption solution.

For PC users willing to take steps to protect themselves from this threat, anti-malware products can delete the Exotic Squad Ransomware either during the install process or after its payload encrypts your data. As usual, the worst thing one can do is pay the Exotic Squad Ransomware's ransom to compensate for the lack of good backup strategies or a safe Web-surfing behavior.