JapanLocker Ransomware

Posted: October 18, 2016

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:	10/10
Infected PCs:	30

First Seen:	October 18, 2016
Last Seen:	March 18, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The JapanLocker Ransomware is a Trojan that targets website server databases and inserts visible ransom messages into the associated site's pages. Since the JapanLocker Ransomware may take other actions that lock the affected domain, such as encrypting essential site content, Web admins should maintain strict account and site security to prevent this threat's installation. If your website server does become infected, use anti-malware tools to delete the JapanLocker Ransomware, change your account password, and restore your site's content from a reliable backup.

A 'Japanese' Trojan Sensation Versus the World's Websites

In examining PC-locking Trojans and other, extortion-based threats, malware experts often focus on local, corporate networks or personal computers. However, not all threat authors are hesitant to tamper with targets that could leave highly-visible side effects. The JapanLocker Ransomware is one threat campaign turning its visibility into a strength, by using the Web pages it compromises for hosting its ransom messages.

The JapanLocker Ransomware modifies website server databases via an SQL injection technique explicitly, and also inserts extra HTML into the code of each Web page. The JapanLocker Ransomware introduces a simple ransom message that redirects the reader and, presumably, website admin to its 'the JapanLocker@hotmail.com' e-mail address, which normally is a preliminary before ransom negotiations. Malware experts also note that the JapanLocker Ransomware may include additional side effects, such as having other site content encrypted with a cipher that blocks them completely.

The introduction of the JapanLocker Ransomware to the server also implies a preexisting security breach on the part of the site's maintainer, which could result in being locked out of the account or suffering from losses of confidential data (such as customer contact information).

Setting the JapanLocker Ransomware Adrift on the Internet Seas

Although the JapanLocker Ransomware has estimated associations with the presence of 'hjmcot.exe' and similar, randomly-named executable files, by the time it appears in your site directory, the security breach and its side effects already are past events. A significant majority of current PC security brands fail to detect this threat, which may call for updating your anti-malware tools to protect yourself and your website from unsafe content.

Website administrators should monitor their sites and accounts for predictable security vulnerabilities, including weak account passwords and out-of-date software (such as blogging platforms) that could give con artists means of ingress. Spam e-mail also is a favored infection vector for Trojans of the same general type as the JapanLocker Ransomware, although most similar Trojans don't specifically seek out or modify website content.

Although the JapanLocker Ransomware's e-mail implies possible connections to Japan, malware analysts only can confirm variants of this threat using English as its choice of language for extortion communications. Regardless of your nationality or the nature of any websites you may maintain, adhering to basic standards in Web administration security is essential for stopping your site from being the next to be 'locked' by this threat. Future threat databases for other anti-malware tools will be updated to detect and delete the JapanLocker Ransomware more accurately.

JapanLocker Ransomware

Threat Metric

A 'Japanese' Trojan Sensation Versus the World's Websites

Setting the JapanLocker Ransomware Adrift on the Internet Seas

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