Halloware Ransomware

The Halloware Ransomware is a Trojan that locks your media, such as pictures, spreadsheets, or documents, by encoding them with an AES encryption. Its attacks also include launching pop-up windows and resetting the desktop's wallpaper automatically, both of which deliver its ransoming demands. Since its encryption method isn't secure, malware experts encourage uninstalling the Halloware Ransomware with any anti-malware program and using other ways of unlocking your files.

Holiday Bargains for Your Trojan Campaigns

File-locking threats and Ransomware-as-a-Service have enormous, if not perfect, overlap the threatening software industry. Most threat actors using RaaS for conveying attacks that block media either temporarily or permanently will put in significant effort into making marketable features and spreading the name of their brand throughout the Dark Web. However, some cybercrooks, such as the newly-recognized Luc1F3R, rely on low prices to justify the limited payloads of Trojans like the Halloware Ransomware.

The Halloware Ransomware is selling for no more than forty US dollars with a marketing campaign that includes underground websites, regular Web forums and even Youtube. Threat actors without any experience in software development can configure the ransom pop-up and desktop-hijacking image in this Trojan's payload to solicit payments from any victims according to their preferences, such as a Bitcoin wallet. The Halloware Ransomware's payload motivates the ransoms by using a traditional, data-encrypting attack.

Malware experts find no meaningful options in the Halloware Ransomware's file-locking attack, which uses only a single, AES-256 cipher to block the user's documents and other content. The Halloware Ransomware also omits most of the other features of file-locking threats, such as text messages, timers, or additional warning messages to keep the victim from taking disinfection-related actions. Especially significantly, doesn't the Halloware Ransomware randomize any part of the data-ciphering routine or upload any relevant information to a remote server, which means that paying the ransom will not unlock anything.

Don't be Intimidated by the Devil's Name

Victims can sort any files that the Halloware Ransomware locks from unharmed media by searching names for the prepended '(Lucifer)' string that the Halloware Ransomware uses, instead of a conventional extension. Because non-randomized AES-256 with no additional security is relatively easy to decode, malware analysts suggest that any victims without a backup should contact appropriate researchers for help with a decryption solution. Making a backup remains the ideal recovery option for the majority of competing threats in the same category as the Halloware Ransomware.

RaaS Trojans can use difficult-to-predict infection methods with a basis on the preferences of different threat actors. Because any con artist without experience in the threatening software industry could spend the forty dollars to deploy the Halloware Ransomware, PC users should maintain comprehensive security standards, including disabling Web-browsing scripts, avoiding piracy-related downloads, using high-quality network passwords, and having anti-malware products analyze any incoming e-mail attachments. Removing the Halloware Ransomware should be possible with most anti-malware programs since the Trojan has no real defenses against such uninstall methods.

Luc1F3R may hope to make easy money by tricking his fellow cybercrooks with sub-par craftsmanship or might be merely inexperienced in the black hat industry. Whether the Halloware Ransomware is a byproduct of malice or youth, it's also a reason to always be aware of all of your choices before surrendering money to a cybercrook.