Kuus Ransomware

The Kuus Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan of the STOP Ransomware or the Djvu Ransomware family. Like other Ransomware-as-a-Service Trojans, it compromises victims' PCs for locking their files and extorts money with its ransom notes. Windows users should have backups suitable for a comprehensive recovery and anti-malware tools for deleting the Kuus Ransomware efficiently.

The Long-Enduring Consequences of a 'Temporary' File

File-locking Trojans need to 'lie low' for some time while they're performing their work: blocking files with almost no hope of recovery from any free solutions that the victim might have available. When accomplishing this, many Ransomware-as-a-Services like the STOP Ransomware will use a carefully-chosen, fake format. Like a chameleon, threats like the Kuus Ransomware blend into the background of a Windows environment by imitating its appearance, until the consequences become known later.

The Kuus Ransomware, for its part, prefers the well-known tactic of imitating a TMP or temporary file, although malware analysts see various, random names on several samples. The Windows Trojan also includes a familial feature that can further disguise its attacks with a fake Windows update – just long enough for keeping the user from suspecting that anything is wrong. Once it finishes, ideally from the attacker's viewpoint, most of the user's files will no longer open.

The Kuus Ransomware accomplishes this feat through an encryption routine that uses AES for each file, such as documents and pictures, although it can do so with one of two RSA keys (an external or internal one). An additional issue is that it conducts a further attack for deleting the Restore Point data, which synergizes with this damaging of digital media. A Windows user's best hope of recovery, accordingly, is having a complete backup on a separate device.

The Leakproof Stopper for a Stream of the STOP Ransomware Attacks

With most of its identity bound up in its RaaS family's built-in features, the Kuus Ransomware offers few surprises for readers who know much of previous STOP Ransomware campaigns. Although it appends an updated e-mail address and extension to files' names, its fundamental features are the same as ever. Users should be watchful for symptoms such as fake Windows update pop-ups and remember that STOP Ransomware variants can infect PCs through multiple sources, including e-mail attachments, attackers brute-forcing admins' passwords and torrents.

Some the Kuus Ransomware attacks may use a less-secure encryption routine than usual, which involves a disrupted C&C connection that forces the Trojan into using a default key. This possibility offers a chance of free decryption. In even rarer cases, the Kuus Ransomware may not delete all the Restore Point data, although users never should depend on such incidents. Since the Kuus Ransomware asks for hundreds of dollars in ransom for media recovery, any backup solutions always are cheaper than paying the threat actor.

Trustable anti-malware products, likewise, can protect Windows systems reliably from file-locking Trojans of the STOP Ransomware family. Disinfecting systems and removing the Kuus Ransomware should include full-fledged system scans that account for the fact that the Trojan might be 'partnering' with other threats, such as a password collector.

The Kuus Ransomware can't do anything that hundreds of other Trojans haven't already done before. Complacency is punishable, though, and users who forget the ongoing profitability of encryption attacks might find the Kuus Ransomware knocking at their server's door to deleterious effect.