Jew Crypt Ransomware

Posted: January 23, 2017

Threat Metric

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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.

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% 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:	9

First Seen:	January 23, 2017
Last Seen:	August 17, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware is a Trojan that tries to encrypt the files on your PC to force you into transferring a Bitcoin ransom. While current versions of the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware lack a fully-functioning encryption attack, this threat may damage local files or create other security issues, such as locking your desktop. Use standardized anti-malware strategies and software to delete the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware, along with backups to keep its potential damages at a minimum.

Ransom with a Side of Racism

It's no shock that many file-encrypting Trojans are selling under a Ransomware-as-a-Service or RaaS model, which lets threat actors with no coding experience benefit from the practical skills of others. When inexperienced coders try to make new threats of this type, the results may look like the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware: a new Trojan that claims to encrypt your files but is incapable of accomplishing that same feat currently. While malware researchers see some signs of the Trojan's coding owing itself to previous, Visual Basic-based threats, the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware has no relationship to other Trojan families.

The 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware's primary executable file is a Windows-specific file of under three hundred kilobytes, making it fast to download and install. The Trojan attempts to encrypt data of various types, such as documents or the contents of the Windows Users directory, but due to poor coding, the attempt fails. Since the Trojan shows signs of still being in mid-development, the threat actor could be intending to update this function into full usability in the coming weeks.

The 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware's second feature, which does work, is to generate an HTA pop-up window with a demand for a Bitcoin ransom of 0.01 Bitcoin (equal to nine USD) to recover the 'encrypted' files. This level of small extortion payments may be associated with attacks against personal computer users, rather than business entities, governments or NGOs, who could afford to pay hundreds of dollars for server-wide information. The 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware's threat actor also incorporates an anti-Jewish image into his pop-up, which malware analysts have yet to see in use in any similar Trojan campaigns.

Banishing Conspiracy Theories for Cheap

Among its many idiosyncrasies, the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware also shows a valuable example of the developer's inexperience: its decryption key. Instead of generating a new key per victim dynamically, the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware uses the hard-coded string of 'JewsDid911.' This set-in-stone password could let any victims decrypt their files without needing to pay a ransom, in the event of the Trojan's receiving updates to make it a real file-encrypting threat. However, malware researchers always urge PC users to back up their data to prevent poorly-coded Trojans like the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware from causing file damage that's not fixable.

Slightly over a dozen major brands of anti-malware products detect the early versions of the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware as being threats currently, although that number is likely to grow if the Trojan ever becomes a true file encryptor. The Trojan may install itself through spam e-mails, by bundling itself with other software or mislabeling itself as being a popular (but not necessarily legal) freeware application such as a key generator. Using qualified anti-malware programs to scan all of these files before launching them can help identify and remove the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware before any chance of file damage occurs.

The 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware shows the uglier side of the human nature and, ironically, is an example of the stereotypical greed that anti-Jewish advocates may use to rally against that ethnic group. Thankfully, the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware's threat actor doesn't match his bias with a corresponding level of programming skill, making the 'Jew Crypt' Ransomware a relatively minor threat to any protected PC.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

crypto.exe

File name: crypto.exe
Size: 278.52 KB (278528 bytes)
MD5: 44941489b16a37d5b2909d201d52cdf4
Detection count: 51
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 17, 2022