Ironcat Ransomware

The Ironcat Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan developed for testing cyber-security in controlled environments initially. Due to its binaries' leaks to the public, victims may encounter it in the wild after threat actors distribute potentially-modified versions automatically. Users should continue guarding their files with secure backups and have anti-malware services on-hand for the efficient removal of the Ironcat Ransomware.

Trojans Dealing Out Painful Lessons in PC Security

Although it's most notorious with the widespread abuse of the once-public Hidden Tear project, file-locker Trojans often find their origins in similar circumstances of 'educational project' misapplication. Such may soon be the case with the Ironcat Ransomware, although its possible campaigns have unexpected wrinkles in their profit margins. Unlike most such incidents, the Trojan's original programmer offers a detailed analysis of how the Trojan works – and what others can do for defending themselves against it.

There are multiple variants of the Ironcat Ransomware, all of which target particular folders on Windows PCs instead of indiscriminately scanning for formats. Targets include the Internet Information Services, Microsoft SQL Server, 'Prestige,' and, most threateningly, the Windows Users folder. The Trojan encrypts files inside these locations and adds a highly-generic 'encrypted' extension at the ends of their names.

Although malware experts sometimes find ransom notes illuminating for tracking Trojans' campaigns, the text messages can be disingenuous, as well. For the Ironcat Ransomware, its demands are intentional copies of the ransom notes of the REvil Ransomware, which has strong associations with GandCrab Ransomware's family. Victims should avoid drawing conclusions based on the wording of messages alone; applying an incorrect Trojan's decryption method to their files damages them permanently, instead of restoring them.

The Surprisingly Brittle Nature of Trojan Metallurgy

The Ironcat Ransomware's design includes some deliberately self-handicapping elements that most Trojans, in the wild, wouldn't contain as parts of their payloads. Although its encryption routine is password-secured, victims may recover the password and decryption solution through several circumstances.

These best-case recovery scenarios include:

• 'Packet sniffer' network analysis and security tools can retrieve the HTTP POSTed data if they're active before the Trojan launches.
• If the attacker runs the Ironcat Ransomware without admin privileges, the Trojan operates with several limitations, including deleting Windows Event Logs. These logs may contain the password as part of the Trojan's launch parameters.
• If the user or outside events interrupt the attack and prevent the closing of 'conhost.exe,' the user can view the session history in the window.

When it runs with admin privileges, the Ironcat Ransomware protects its encryption routine by removing forensics data, including deleting the Restore Points, along with the Event Logs. Users should remember the need to have backups on other devices as the most efficient counter to file-locking Trojans, whether they're threatening or just 'educational' intentionally.

Early rates for detecting this program as a threat are not optimal, which is a common issue with newly-identified and independent Trojans. Users should update all out-of-date software, submit samples related to attacks to cyber-security companies, and remove the Ironcat Ransomware from infected computers with capable security tools appropriately.

Ironcat may not have meant for this software's spilling out onto the Web, but there is no 'backsies' on such accidents. A leak on the Web is far more permanent in consequences than spilled milk, and the Ironcat Ransomware is quite similar to long-term pollution that may harm those who brush by it.