Kasiski Ransomware

Posted: February 20, 2017

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:	87

First Seen:	February 20, 2017
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Kasiski Ransomware is a Trojan that can lock your files with encryption ciphering, hijack your desktop's background, and create extortionist messages through text. This threat causes file damage that may not be reversible, whether or not you pay its ransoms, and malware experts advise making regular backups as a precaution against attacks of this type. Update your anti-malware solutions and use them to scan new files routinely to delete the Kasiski Ransomware without it having an opportunity to lock any of your media.

The Five Hundred Dollar File Problem

With threat actors using flexible methods of extorting money through threatening software, specializing in different victims, and using entire ranges of encryption ciphers, there also is a substantial variety in how they collect their revenue. In general, attacks against personal-use computers, as opposed to government, business or NGO networks, are less expensive than ones against entities with larger financial resources. However, some Trojans, like the Kasiski Ransomware, continue implementing attacks with comparatively expensive costs to the victims.

The Kasiski Ransomware drops components customized for Spanish-speaking regions, with no English variants that malware analysts see, so far. Unlike most file-encoding Trojans, the Kasiski Ransomware also is designed for 64 bit-based Windows environments specifically, and users running 32-bit operating systems may be immune to the intended payloads of current samples.

Other aspects of the Kasiski Ransomware's attacks are well within the models pioneered by campaigns like those for Hidden Tear and the Crysis Ransomware:

The Kasiski Ransomware replaces the desktop wallpaper with a custom JPG, which serves to redirect you to its ransom note (see below) solely.
The second file that the Kasiski Ransomware drops is a Notepad TXT message containing more relevant information on paying its fee to reverse all of the damages from the rest of its payload. With demands of five hundred USD equivalent, the Kasiski Ransomware is one of the more expensive casual user-targeting Trojans that malware researchers are noting for early 2017.
The Kasiski Ransomware also includes an encryption feature to encipher and lock your media, such as PDF, DOC or XLS files. This attack blocks the opening of these files until you decrypt them and provides the motivation for making the payment. Although the Kasiski Ransomware doesn't add new extensions to these files, it does prepend the tag [KASISKI] to them.

Stopping Unnecessary Expenses for the Start of the Year

Many file-encoding threats disseminate themselves through executable that is under a megabyte, which allows them to disguise themselves as documents or other, equally safe kinds of content. The Kasiski Ransomware is moderately unusual for having an observable size of fourteen MB currently. However, industry-wide detection rates against this new threat are much lower than ideal, and your security software may require being updated to detect the file as being a threat to your PC. The Kasiski Ransomware does not appear to belong to any of the old families of extortionist threats such as the Shade Ransomware.

Malware experts can track evidence of the Kasiski Ransomware's spreading back to late February, with limited data points on its distribution models. Threat actors could install the Kasiski Ransomware manually by hacking systems with brute force-vulnerable passwords but are more likely to use Exploit Kits, e-mail attachments or disguised torrents. Since decryption often is unavailable, even for PC users who choose to pay, having anti-malware protection for blocking the Kasiski Ransomware on sight, or stringent backup strategies, are the only guaranteed ways of keeping any file damage from occurring.

The Kasiski Ransomware may be a sign that threat authors are becoming more interested in getting larger ransoms, even from PC users with limited budgets. Since backup solutions are available to anyone for free, paying a five hundred dollar price for slothful file-saving behavior isn't a lifestyle malware analysts can endorse.

Kasiski Ransomware

Threat Metric

The Five Hundred Dollar File Problem

Stopping Unnecessary Expenses for the Start of the Year

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