'.LOL!' Ransomware

Posted: October 3, 2016

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:	16

First Seen:	October 3, 2016
Last Seen:	May 12, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The '.LOL!' Ransomware is a Trojan its administrators deploy as a threatening file encryption tool that can block your data and display ransom-themed messages selling you a decryptor. The latest of the '.LOL!' Ransomware attacks have close connections to both e-mail infection vectors and potential backdoor access to business networks, and any drive accessible from an infected PC via a network is potentially vulnerable to being encrypted. Anti-malware solutions can block or delete the '.LOL!' Ransomware and backups can protect your data from a potentially permanent encoding attack.

More Threat Authors LOLing Their Way Through Your File Directories

Gaining as much money as possible with a minimum of effort is the invariable common denominator of most threat campaigns, but the kinds of damages they may cause are often more flexible than their bottom lines. A Trojan malware experts trace back to the mid-summer of 2016, the '.LOL!' Ransomware shows how little and how much harm can come from opening the wrong e-mail at the wrong time or ignoring your network security settings.

This threat's campaign links to compromises of dedicated business servers tightly, most likely via crafted e-mail messages with subject lines referencing professional expenses or delivery notifications. The '.LOL!' Ransomware is one of a minority of cases where a file encrypting Trojan's infection also shows many of the symptoms of the involvement of other threats, including, most significantly, threats that could give a third-party backdoor access to the system.

When judged alone, the '.LOL!' Ransomware is responsible for encrypting multiple formats of data, including PDFs, JPGs, DOC documents and other content. Malware analysts also see some versions of the Trojan enciphering DLL and EXE content, even including operating system components. This makes the '.LOL!' Ransomware a threat to the bare bones functionality of the machine, as well as an attacker of data. Network mapped drives are equally at risk of being encrypted as local ones, and some variants of the '.LOL!' Ransomware may encrypt one without encrypting the other.

Showing Trojans Who Has the Last Laugh

The '.LOL!' Ransomware creates ransoming messages in each directory holding any encrypted files, delivering instructions on how to get access to decryption software. Although the '.LOL!' Ransomware's authors most likely use these avenues of communication for taking payments in exchange for a decryptor, this recovery method is unreliable and may cause other damages to your files. If practical, malware analysts advise taking recovery steps not related to paying con artists for a potentially non-working decryption service, such as restoring from a sufficiently protected backup.

Due to its close association with backdoor attacks and RDP vulnerabilities, PC operators should be careful to avoid compromising additional servers or drives when they confirm a '.LOL!' Ransomware infection. The '.LOL!' Ransomware symptoms typically restrict themselves to changes to encrypted data extensions (using the '.LOL' extension) and creating ransom TXT messages, while also causing less visible compromises of your PC's security. If this threat was downloaded and launched locally, you can use anti-malware tools to delete the '.LOL!' Ransomware. Afterward, change all passwords that could be in third parties possession, and consider monitoring other network settings, such as RDP ports.

For some, the cost of neglecting your basic Web safety standards is something to pay in both money and file data. Any business making use of e-mail accounts open to access by distant threat actors should consider the potential dangers of letting employees click arbitrary attachments, or using the same, simplistic password for months at a time.

'.LOL!' Ransomware

Threat Metric

More Threat Authors LOLing Their Way Through Your File Directories

Showing Trojans Who Has the Last Laugh

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