Heimdall Ransomware
Posted: November 10, 2016
Threat Metric
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: | 8/10 |
|---|---|
| Infected PCs: | 9 |
| First Seen: | November 10, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Last Seen: | March 30, 2020 |
| OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The Heimdall Ransomware is a server-based Trojan that, once run by a threat actor with access, encrypts all of the files on the server. Although the Heimdall Ransomware's development owes itself to being an educational project, its source is available in the wild, raising the possibility of con artists exploiting it in multiple campaigns for extorting ransom money. Backing your server up to locations not accessible by this threat, and having anti-malware tools to detect the Heimdall Ransomware automatically, are the defenses malware experts would recommend most predominantly.
A 'Proof of Concept' God Aiming His Lightning in the Wrong Direction
With improper use, knowledge may hurt as much as it may help, particularly for PC users trying to investigate the details of the threat industry. Past attempts by researchers to educate the public without securing their source code properly has created numerous, threatening variants of Hidden Tear and EDA2. As of October 26th, malware experts can add another 'open source' Trojan to the group: the Heimdall Ransomware.
Originally, the Heimdall Ransomware's author released its code as proof of the viability of PHP script's exploitation in file-encrypting attacks, promoting his efforts with informative Youtube videos. Named after a golden-toothed Norse god, the Heimdall Ransomware conducts encryption attacks without any discrimination for particular types of formats, meaning that it encodes any and all content on the compromised drive. Unlike most file-encrypting Trojans, the Heimdall Ransomware is a server-specific threat: it requires that a threat actor gains access to the server and deposits the Heimdall Ransomware on it manually before any attacks can begin.
The Heimdall Ransomware is a single file of under five hundred lines of PHP script, making it an easily-overlooked and potentially rapid-acting threat. Although the Heimdall Ransomware deploys an AES-128-CBC algorithm for its enciphering attack consistently, the password accompanying it is configurable, based on the threat actor controlling it.
Keeping a Theological Relic from Becoming Relevant Again
While the Heimdall Ransomware's branding is that of a long-extinct religion's deity, the Trojan's design is in keeping with many of the commonalities of recent threat campaigns. Trojans targeting Web servers instead of personal computers with encryption attacks are just as vulnerable to being mitigated by a smart use of backups and just as threatening to PC users who ignore the need to keep redundant copies of their files. Depending on the contents of the server, the Heimdall Ransomware's payload is capable of completing in a space of time ranging from several seconds to a few minutes.
The Heimdall Ransomware's author has seen fit to take down his personally-hosted copy of the Trojan's code, which deprives would-be con artists of one source of free threats. However, the length of its hosting time before that makes it likely that different threat actors have preserved copies of the Heimdall Ransomware's code elsewhere, which they can readjust for delivering custom extortion demands. Consequentially, malware experts rate its potential infection vectors as being highly unpredictable, although an initial compromise of the server's security is mandatory.
PC users with servers worth protecting should monitor server usage and settings, as well as keep backups on external servers or drives that the Heimdall Ransomware can't encrypt. While most anti-malware programs should be able to remove this Trojan with no impediments, deleting the Heimdall Ransomware will not restore any content that the wrathful hand of this Norse god-styled software encrypts.
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