H34rtBl33d Ransomware

The H34rtBl33d Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that can encrypt your media to keep you from opening them until you pay its ransom. In addition to that attack and associated changes to the filenames, the H34rtBl33d Ransomware also creates toolbar-based pop-ups and communicates with a remote server for delivering infection statistics to its threat actor. Have your anti-malware products uninstall the H34rtBl33d Ransomware and restore any files from backups, when necessary.

The Framework of a Bleeding Heart Trojan

The usage of the .NET Framework for programming a Windows-compatible Trojan is something that's endemic to low-effort, file-locking threats, like the Gedantar Ransomware, the WhiteRose Ransomware, the WininiCrypt Ransomware or the RSA2048Pro Ransomware. However, while these Trojans often demonstrate poor coding talent, they can distinguish themselves from competing threats in other ways, as malware experts see through the H34rtBl33d Ransomware. This Ransomware-as-a-Service Trojan includes numerous aesthetic differences from similar Trojans in its Black Hat industry.

As a .NET Framework-based threat, the H34rtBl33d Ransomware requires a Windows software-compatible environment. Its encryption routine, which locks data such as Adobe and Word documents, uploads the code for 'unlocking' or decrypting the victim's media to a C&C server, which the threat actors access via a hard-coded password. The H34rtBl33d Ransomware also provides some basic information for tracking each infection, such as the operating system version. The files that the H34rtBl33d Ransomware locks are identifiable from the '.d3g1d5' extension changes.

However, instead of using a traditional ransom note, such as a TXT, HTA, or HTML file, the H34rtBl33d Ransomware creates Windows 'balloon tip' notifications on the user's toolbar. These English, but grammatically-incorrect messages identify the Trojan and provide a link for paying its ransom to gain the decryption key. Malware experts advise against doing so, in this case particularly since the H34rtBl33d Ransomware is a likely candidate for having a free decryptor produced through the cybersecurity industry.

Staunching the Flow of Locked Data

The ASCII artwork, grammar issues, and other details of the H34rtBl33d Ransomware's campaign imply that its threat actors, referring to themselves as the D3g1d5.Cyber.Crew in an associated Facebook page, are young and inexperienced. The Trojan makes no effort at obscuring its code or using dynamic credentials for protecting its encryption routine or C&C infrastructure from any analysis by third parties. In spite of these shortcomings, the H34rtBl33d Ransomware is as much of a legitimate, file-locking Trojan as more well-designed threats than itself, like most Ransomware-as-a-Service families.

The distribution methods for all RaaS-maintained threats contains the potential for flexibility, but malware experts most often relate these low-effort Trojans with file-sharing networks and mislabeled downloads. Other techniques in use by encryption-wielding threat actors include e-mail spam, exploit kits, corrupted document macros, and the so-called 'brute force' attacks. Traditional anti-malware products may delete the H34rtBl33d Ransomware without allowing its payload's launching, and protect your files by doing so.

Although its delivery method for its ransom is unconventional, the H34rtBl33d Ransomware still is an initial warning indicator of new con artists sabotaging data for money. Users without the wisdom to make backups and protect their PCs can be glad that its authors haven't had time to gather much programming experience – yet.