Heropoint Ransomware

Posted: January 3, 2018

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:	2/10
Infected PCs:	22

First Seen:	April 9, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Heropoint Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan in development. Although only its ransom note and lock-screen features are available, future builds may include the ability to block specific formats of files by enciphering them. Regardless of its stage of development, users always should protect themselves by removing the Heropoint Ransomware with appropriate anti-malware solutions, and, if needed, use backups for recovering their files.

Pointing out Trojans before They Cause Problems

A threat actor who calls himself 'Heropoint' is starting the earnest development of a new, file-locking threat. This campaign differs from many others by using XOR, which is rare, but still observable in Trojans like the members of the Xorist Ransomware's family periodically. Although malware experts find large portions of its code pointing to a real, data-blocking feature, the only part of the Heropoint Ransomware's payload that works, for now, is its pop-up notice.

The Heropoint Ransomware generates a screen-locking window that uses an advanced HTML (or HTA) format for giving the victim both their ransom-paying directions and a field for inputting the unlocking password. In theory, Heropoint retains control of that code after the Heropoint Ransomware encrypts the files of the victim's PC and uploads the key to his server. Then, it demands the victims to pay twenty USD in the Bitcoin currency to purchase the only way of unlocking their files.

Thanks to the presence of an identically-named function that overrides the encryption one, the Heropoint Ransomware doesn't lock anything, right now. Its current encryption implementation uses XOR, which is a relatively non-secure cryptography protocol and targets ten formats (EXE, HTML, ICO, JPG, MP3, MP4, PPTX, PNG, TXT and XLSX). If Heropoint enables this feature, it also will add a random, number-based extension.

Being a Hero to Your Files

In its partially working state, the Heropoint Ransomware is only threatening for the sake of misleading any victims about the attack, thanks to its pop-up alert. New releases of the Heropoint Ransomware may include other hazards besides encryption, such as disabling Safe Mode or the Windows Defender, among other, favorite options of threat actors. However, the danger of data loss from any Heropoint Ransomware infection is defensible by any users preparing themselves with backups.

Malware researchers are unprepared to venture any firm conclusions about what installation exploits the Heropoint Ransomware's campaign might use. File-locking Trojans have, at different points in time, taken advantage of hands-on installations from brute-forcing networks, attached themselves to spam e-mails circulating as pirated software, or drop from third-party threats like exploit kits. Traditional anti-malware programs include different forms of protection and heuristics against most of these techniques and should delete the Heropoint Ransomware safely.

Although its current capacity for harm is of little value, the Heropoint Ransomware has all the traits of a Trojan just one step away from going into serious production. All users would do well by their files to stay one step ahead of it.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

dosesoftbun.live