GPAA Ransomware

Posted: June 14, 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:	98

First Seen:	June 14, 2017
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The GPAA Ransomware is a Trojan that locks your files and asks for a ransom that it claims it will transfer to a charitable organization. No matter what its excuses may be, users should treat this Trojan as being threatening and a risk to any files that they save on their hard drives. Many anti-malware programs may block its installer or delete the GPAA Ransomware afterward, as is appropriate, after which you can use free means of decoding your media.

Trojans Ending Poverty by Spreading It

With so much competition from different groups of threat actors, new ones are more likely to use gimmicks and showy brand-advertising techniques to heighten their chances of success. One of the newest samples from our malware analysts, the GPAA Ransomware, plays on heartstrings instead of using technical innovation to make its payload efficient. However, the payoff remains determinant on a victim who, ideally, avoids making the wrong choice for file recovery.

The GPAA Ransomware's payload includes scanning for files matching any of one hundred and eighty extensions, including both highly-specialized ones (such as CAD formats, like CATProcess) and generic ones, like Adobe's PDF. It also adds '.cerber6' extensions to anything it encrypts. Malware researchers have yet to determine the Trojan's ancestry and do emphasize that the Cerber Ransomware campaign has seen both updates and third-party imitators in the threat sector.

The Trojan creates a Web page-based ransom message, offering to decrypt the now-locked media for a price. Interestingly, it has, besides the traditional Bitcoin request, an assertion that the funds will go to the (fake) Global Poverty Aid Agency's charity work. While this tactic isn't an extremely commonplace one, malware analysts do find it, rarely, in similar attacks, such as last year's CryptMix Ransomware.

Taking Food from the Mouths of Con Artists

The GPAA Ransomware publicizes itself as being an illegitimate but, overall, benevolent donation-seeking program. In reality, the GPAA organization it promotes doesn't exist, and paying may not even prompt the Trojan's administrators into giving you the decryption program necessarily. Because of inconclusive results on current decryption chances, malware researchers only can verify remote backups as being safe from the encryption damage that the GPAA Ransomware causes.

With a potential variable distribution model, for different targets, the GPAA Ransomware could install itself through forged e-mail documents or even hacked Web pages. Disabling scripts, macros, and other content that's very likely to be exploitable can help protect your PC. An anti-malware program may delete the GPAA Ransomware before, during, or after the symptom-less encryption routine, as necessary.

Giving money to 'charities' like the GPAA Ransomware is little better than throwing it into a fireplace. Although alleviating guilt over worldwide suffering never hurts, it also shouldn't replace taking good care of your files by copying them to a secure location.

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: 178.68 KB (178688 bytes)
MD5: bf58714838edfcc135a64818d3667547
Detection count: 84
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: June 15, 2017