Fluffy-TAR Ransomware

Posted: April 5, 2017

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:	28

First Seen:	April 5, 2017
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Fluffy-TAR Ransomware is a Trojan that can prevent you from opening files, such as your documents, by encrypting them. The symptoms of this threat also include pop-ups with Bitcoin ransoming demands that may prevent you from accessing your desktop. Always try to detect and remove the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware with anti-malware protection preemptively, but if you fail to do so, having a backup can be a critical part of the recovery process.

The Cuddliest Extortionist You'll Meet this Spring

Even a threat campaign needs brand awareness, which can help cement the idea of notoriety in the minds of the general public. The design of an upcoming file-ransoming Trojan family seems to be taking cues from modern Western animation, with a child-friendly mascot design to promote its otherwise traditional attacks. The threat, the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware, comes with support for multiple languages and a ransom-facilitating website, making it easy to deploy around the world.

The Fluffy-TAR Ransomware is still being developed, with not all samples capable of encryption, although malware analysts expect that any upcoming builds will use the AES-256 combined with an RSA cipher. This secure form of encryption can block files with various formats, usually including documents, pictures, spreadsheets and archives. The Fluffy-TAR Ransomware may or may not modify the file names, as well, such as by inserting a new extension, strictly for purposes of identification.

Current releases of the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware also deploy a lock-screen window that blocks the entire monitor with their ransoming messages. Victims can proceed in either French or English, with built-in payment timers, a one-file sample decryption, and a post-payment retrieval feature for the decryption key. The internal data also includes a still-unused image: the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware's apparent mascot, a pink, furry animal mimicking the recent designs of various Hasbro products.

Plucking the Fluff out of Your Files

Although its choice of mascot may seem innocent, the design work that the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware's threat actors put into the Trojan is implicative of their long-term plans. The Fluffy-TAR Ransomware's Tor-based website for processing its cryptocurrency payments is another sign that it could be in deployment for some time to come to justify its extensive support infrastructure. Malware analysts can't determine what infection vectors the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware is most likely of being deployed through, but both spam e-mails and Web Exploit Kits are noteworthy propagators of similar campaigns.

Although it's not a close relative, the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware does some things in common with the thoroughly examined Jigsaw Ransomware: claiming to delete all encrypted content when its ransoming timer hits zero. For now, malware analysts have yet to confirm whether this warning is legitimate or a bluff. Regardless, all PC users would do well to protect their files with the occasional backup to a location not vulnerable of being encrypted by the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware, such as an extra USB device.

The Fluffy-TAR Ransomware may look cute, but its effects on your files are anything but adorable. Having anti-malware tools for deleting the Fluffy-TAR Ransomware before it gains a threshold on your PC is part and parcel of keeping upstart con artists from making money out of what's not theirs.

Fluffy-TAR Ransomware

Threat Metric

The Cuddliest Extortionist You'll Meet this Spring

Plucking the Fluff out of Your Files

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