KillDisk Ransomware
Posted: December 29, 2016
Threat Metric
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 |
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Infected PCs: | 24 |
First Seen: | December 29, 2016 |
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OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The KillDisk Ransomware is an updated variant of a Trojan that, previously, erased necessary files to disable the PC. This new version conducts encryption attacks on those files, instead, so that it may monetize its attacks by extorting money in return for giving the victim a decryption key. Due to the high cost and unreliability of this option, malware experts strongly urge all relevant organizations to keep backups in secure locations as an alternate recovery choice and use anti-malware products to protect their systems from the KillDisk Ransomware.
A Trojan Moves from Killing to Hostage-Taking
Although, usually, the sub-sections of the threat industry that deal with ransoming data for money versus attacking industrial sectors remain separate, the KillDisk Ransomware signifies that some threat actors are interested in fusing the two disparate elements together. Just as its name would seem to indicate, the KillDisk Ransomware's most direct predecessors are hard drive-wiping-Trojans such as those seen disabling the essential systems of Ukrainian power providers. With surprisingly few changes, the KillDisk Ransomware is now turning its capabilities towards encryption.
Malware experts can verify that the majority of the KillDisk Ransomware's code remains consistent with past KillDisk variants. The Trojan terminates some application processes selectively but avoids tampering with security software that could trigger any alerts. Although a full installation requires elevated or administrator privileges, once a threat actor installs it, the KillDisk Ransomware maintains its persistence as a registered service.
The KillDisk Ransomware uses a notably advanced version of the AES-RSA double-layered encryption to block files instead of deleting them. Its authors demonstrate a high degree of professionalism in the KillDisk Ransomware's payload by avoiding more direct encryption methods that leave larger footprints for security software to detect. Like most file-encrypting Trojans of humbler origins, once its attack finishes enciphering all appropriate data, the KillDisk Ransomware displays a Bitcoin ransom notification through a pop-up window.
Pulling the Kill Switch on the New Twist in Industrial Sabotage
The KillDisk Ransomware's ransom sum for giving the victim its decryption help is the largest of its kind to date, with a USD value of over two hundred thousand. Although this fee may be 'appropriate' for such lucrative targets as national electricity companies and other, infrastructure-heavy victims, the threat actors are no more guaranteed of keeping their word than in prior incidents against ordinary PC users. Since the KillDisk Ransomware uses the same decryption keys for all of its installations, a working decryptor should, in theory, function for reversing the damages of all attacks.
However, backups offer a much more dependable and inexpensive recovery solution. The KillDisk Ransomware may encrypt data accessible over networks, and concerned organizations should take steps for isolating their backups from any potentially compromised machines. Malware experts also emphasize that threat actors installed previous versions of the KillDisk Ransomware after gaining backdoor access with limited restrictions, meaning that network passwords also could be compromised.
While traditional anti-malware protection should be able to block and delete the KillDisk Ransomware, this threat is unlikely of being the only security problem with an infected PC. Its existence also is a key example of how even the most business-like and industrious of ill-minded groups still are, at the end of the day, in it for the money.
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