LockedByte Ransomware

Posted: May 30, 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:	53

First Seen:	May 30, 2017
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The LockedByte Ransomware is a Trojan that locks your files with a cipher and asks for Bitcoin money to restore them. However, users can restore their content through other methods, and victims always should reserve paying any ransoms to the administrators of Trojan campaigns as a final, emergency option. Since it can cause damage that requires additional work to reverse, malware experts advise having an anti-malware program that can remove the LockedByte Ransomware before it finishes installing itself.

All Locked Up in Anticipation of Bitcoins

While file-encoding Trojans almost never undercut their extortion demands with realistic analyses of their attacks, many threat actors go far in the opposite direction, presenting a false front of bravado for highly unsophisticated threats. The LockedByte Ransomware campaign, possibly another derivative of the Deos Ransomware branch of Hidden Tear, showcases the vulnerability that a seemingly impenetrable threat can possess hiding beneath its warning messages. However, as always, waiting to see its symptoms before dealing with it carries some security and data loss implications for any PC.

The LockedByte Ransomware is a Windows-based application compatible with the Intel 386 or later processors, and in a suitable environment, launches a payload that consists of two parts primarily: an attack on your file data, and a message extorting money from the first function. The LockedByte Ransomware searches your hard drive for formats of data including documents, pictures, or spreadsheets, and encrypts all of them with the same XOR algorithm. This encoding process stops other programs from being able to read the files.

The LockedByte Ransomware's second feature loads a ransom note, which it may display through hijacking your desktop's wallpaper or an additional pop-up window. The LockedByte Ransomware's authors use this message to ask for 1000 USD Bitcoin payments to their wallet address and claim to be able to decode your content afterward. However, as per malware experts' last analyses, the Trojan's current ransoming messages don't include any default decryption features or individual ID tags to help the victim with the recovery process.

A Byte Locker that's Weaker than You'd Imagine

The scarcity of XOR-based attacks from file-encryption threats is an easily explainable phenomenon: XOR is notorious for being less secure than other, easily implemented means of enciphering data. Consequently, victims of the LockedByte Ransomware attacks that lack a backup to recover from shouldn't hesitate to contact trusted anti-malware researchers for help with decrypting their locked content. The LockedByte Ransomware's ransom payment demands are unusually high for an encryption method this trivial, and point towards its author's relative inexperience with the norms of threat-based business models.

While malware experts have yet to trace details on the LockedByte Ransomware's installation exploits, file-encrypting Trojans are known for using e-mail attachments to compromise targets that could make high-value ransom payments. PCs with anti-malware protection are less at risk for being compromised through in-document macros and other means of installing threats of this type, and also may stop and remove the LockedByte Ransomware without letting the encryption occur.

Con artists pretend that their misdeeds are more invulnerable to legal or technological counterattacks than tends to be true habitually.The LockedByte Ransomware is a questionably competent case of a file-locking Trojan, and any victims can be thankful that its authors failed to put any more work into it than the bare minimum.

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:

dir\lockedbyte.exe

File name: lockedbyte.exe
Size: 12.8 KB (12800 bytes)
MD5: d5c1960a0729722baca09ce52cb7474e
Detection count: 25
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: dir
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: May 30, 2017