Home Malware Programs Ransomware Keep Calm Ransomware

Keep Calm Ransomware

Posted: July 18, 2017

Threat Metric

Threat Level: 10/10
Infected PCs: 239
First Seen: July 18, 2017
Last Seen: August 4, 2021
OS(es) Affected: Windows

The Keep Calm Ransomware is a variant of EDA2, a Trojan made for demonstrative purposes that locks the infected PC's media with an encryption cipher. After an attack, a victim also may see other symptoms, including changes to their wallpaper or the names of the affected files, along with extortion demands from the Trojan's author. Avoid paying for data restoration, when possible, and use anti-malware products for protecting your PC or uninstalling the Keep Calm Ransomware after an infection.

Modern Plundering Has New Art for an Old Name

Like its sibling family of Hidden Tear, EDA2 remains one of the richer resources that ill-minded programmers are mining for making new Trojan campaigns with an investment in encryption attacks. One threat that malware experts are just beginning to examine in detail, the Keep Calm Ransomware, demonstrates how effective such an attack can be without doing much to modify the default values of the EDA2's code. The ability to encode and lock your files automatically is, as usual, the defining feature of this Trojan's payload.

The Keep Calm Ransomware has yet to be verifiable as being in distribution, although its payload works as intended and doesn't omit any of the usual features malware experts would expect from similar attacks. Attacks of note impacting the system after the Keep Calm Ransomware installs itself include:

  • The Keep Calm Ransomware scans for sixty types of files to lock with an AES-based algorithm; examples of the formats it damages include TEXT, BMP, and MPEG, among others. Unlike most file-encoding threats, the Keep Calm Ransomware doesn't avoid locking executable files; this included extension means that the Trojan may block a majority of the software on the compromised PC
  • Although it's only discernible afterward, the Keep Calm Ransomware also replaces the desktop background with a skull and crossbones-themed image containing no information other than a recommendation to 'keep calm,' as per the British meme.
  • To deliver the file-unlocking ransoming instructions, the Keep Calm Ransomware generates an RTF file asking you to pay Bitcoins for the decryption code.

Calming the Choppy Trojan Seas

Many versions of EDA2 can have their locked files restored by free utilities offered by the PC security sector. While it's not certain that the Keep Calm Ransomware is vulnerable to similar methods necessarily, malware experts recommend attempting every other solution before paying the con artists' ransom for their decryption help. Bitcoin transactions avoid legal protections that could be used to regain your money, in the event of the recipient not offering any services. Backup strategies that keep duplicates of your media on servers or other devices also are invaluable recovery resources.

While the Keep Calm Ransomware's infection methods are undefined, the con artists use e-mail links and attachments for distributing these threats frequently. Web-browsing vulnerabilities also are in high use as vectors for installing threatening software with encryption-based features automatically or with the victims' deceived consent. Anti-malware programs can identify and delete the Keep Calm Ransomware as a threat regardless of commonplace disguises, such as fake extensions or document-embedded vulnerabilities, such as macros.

Besides giving new ransom payment routes, the Keep Calm Ransomware shows little difference from old EDA2 variants. However, this absence of creative, unusual features shows only that EDA2 still is working at making a profit from PC users who don't put enough value on a good backup.

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:



C:\Users\<username>\Desktop\PC malware samples\248c960c1ae54103dea5bfae924f28e2.exe File name: 248c960c1ae54103dea5bfae924f28e2.exe
Size: 464.38 KB (464384 bytes)
MD5: 248c960c1ae54103dea5bfae924f28e2
Detection count: 28
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Users\<username>\Desktop\PC malware samples\248c960c1ae54103dea5bfae924f28e2.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 3, 2022
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