.HOW Ransomware

The .HOW Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that's a variant of the Dharma Ransomware, a branch of the Crysis Ransomware family. Ransomware-as-a-Services like this one may use different infection methods and attack home users or work environments, always, with the design of blocking files and holding them for ransom. Users should have anti-malware protection for deleting the .HOW Ransomware infections and backups for a painless recovery.

Hostile Data Archivists on the Job

Although it's not quite near the same profusion of campaigns and features as its nearest competition, the STOP Ransomware, the Dharma Ransomware RaaS is a significant entity within the Dark Web. Hiring itself out to any threat actors that cultivate an interest in extortion, it propagates throughout the internet in generalized attacks and specialized delivery vectors. The .HOW Ransomware is a newcomer to this family, but malware experts are confident that its features are copied wholesale from ancestors mostly. Examples of relatives include the Credo Ransomware, the Hlpp Ransomware, the Love$ Ransomware and the Uta Ransomware.

All variants of the .HOW Ransomware use the initial filename of 'archive,' which might indicate they're work-themed e-mail attachments or similar tactics. Even though the .HOW Ransomware is more limited than some Trojans of the same class, it remains thoroughly capable of the most notable attack: encrypting digital media, such as documents, pictures, spreadsheets and music. Users should find the locked files readily-identifiable thanks to the filename changes that include ransoming credentials and a campaign-specific extension.

Since malware researchers continue confirming that the .HOW Ransomware, as usual, destroys local backups, users should take up other solutions for recovering data. Ransom payments through the .HOW Ransomware's recommended service hinge on criminals' good faith, but non-local backups are an always-dependable option. Less often, some victims might find that repairing files via the Shadow Volume Copy-specific utilities is possible, although this scenario requires interrupted payloads or bugs on the Trojan's part.

Burning Down the Archive of Illicitlly-Raised Ransoms

The .HOW Ransomware operates in a very standard fashion relative to the rest of the Ransomware-as-a-Service industry, but its infection exploits have yet to receive verification. Malware experts tend to catch file-locking Trojans, from families like the STOP Ransomware, the Dharma Ransomware or the Scarab Ransomware, using the following installation paths: 

• An EK like the RIG Exploit Kit or the Lord Exploit Kit may use software vulnerabilities and features like JavaScript to install the Trojan through your Web browser.
• Threat actors may attach the .HOW Ransomware or related threats to e-mail messages. These tactics can use customized content related to the recipient's workplace.
• General security weaknesses, such as weak passwords, can become invitations for attacks that compromise a server or entire network, with further file-locking and extortion afterward.
• Pirated software and media downloads can carry file-locking Trojans of various families, including Ransomware-as-a-Service ones.

 On the other hand, most Windows users can prevent all of these issues with well-known security protocols. Those who fail to prevent infections and back up their work will depend on anti-malware programs instead of deleting the .HOW Ransomware in time.

The .HOW Ransomware has little to show for differences from the very earliest relatives of its family, like the Malevich Ransomware. That way of doing business works just as well, years later, which is on the heads of those who insist on valuing their files only after losing control of them.