Iron Ransomware

The Iron Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan with ransoming infrastructure misappropriated from the Maktub Ransomware's campaign and code from the Satan Ransomware. The Iron Ransomware attacks can block various media types, including formats specific to video game software, by encrypting them securely. Using different backup restoration methods instead of paying its ransom, and, then, deleting the Iron Ransomware with an anti-malware product are the best responses.

An Efficient Fusion of Trojans

Black Hat programmers, threat actors, and so-called 'script kiddies' often borrow from the resources of their competitors freely, which allows them to commit harmful actions such as extortion over digital data without needing to spend any effort on development. While malware experts, as a result, often see variants and clones of families like Hidden Tear or Ransomware-as-a-Service Trojans, the Iron Ransomware is an unusual example of a Trojan copying from two, different sources. Its author is opting to use the Web infrastructure and the user's interface of the Maktub Ransomware. However, the Iron Ransomware's code is most similar to that of the Satan Ransomware.

The Iron Ransomware locks over three hundred formats of files, including 'niche' ones associated with gaming, such as Steam's VDFs and World of Tanks replays and DayZ profiles. The Iron Ransomware uses what malware experts are classifying as a 'secure' encryption method: AES, which it further protects with an RSA algorithm. However, and very unusually, for a Trojan with its level of development, the Iron Ransomware doesn't delete the Shadow Volume Copies or other, default data on Windows machines.

Once it locks your media, the Iron Ransomware generates a pop-up that may block the desktop and other Windows GUI elements. This pop-up window uses Web pages from the Maktub Ransomware campaign, with all references to the Maktub Ransomware replaced. The Web payment portal it points towards also represents itself in the same way, which may give the victims an incorrect view of which Trojan is infecting their PCs. The Iron Ransomware's authors are asking for just over one thousand USD in Bitcoins, with a gradually-increasing scale of up to ten thousand dollars for tardiness.

Melting an Ironclad Grasp on Your Files

Although the Iron Ransomware has a detail-oriented ransoming infrastructure, its threat actors haven't addressed the major oversights in the Satan Ransomware's payload that allow its victims to access their backups. Users should consider restoring Windows from their last Restore Point or using the Shadow Volume Copy snapshot feature for retrieving any encryption-locked files. Although gaming data is the Iron Ransomware's most unusual choice of target, it also attacks documents, images, and other contents that are traditional victims of file-locking Trojans.

The executable available for malware experts' analysis include names suggestive of the Iron Ransomware's distributing itself as a fake Adobe software installer for 64-bit Windows machines. Threat actors can stage these actors on corrupted websites and advertising networks. E-mail attachments with embedded exploits also may drop this threat on your computer automatically. Anti-malware products can block the associated drive-by-downloads or delete the Iron Ransomware once it infects your PC.

The Iron Ransomware is a Frankenstein's monster of two Trojan campaigns sewn together. Anyone in need of recovering their files from this Trojan, or a similar one, should remember that going by looks often leads victims of a cyber-misdeed in the wrong direction.