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MasterBuster Ransomware

Posted: November 2, 2016

Threat Metric

Threat Level: 8/10
Infected PCs: 9
First Seen: November 2, 2016
Last Seen: January 18, 2020
OS(es) Affected: Windows

The MasterBuster Ransomware is a Trojan built from formerly-public educational resources for the purpose of encrypting your files and holding them hostage until you pay its ransom. Its campaign targets Bengali-speaking PC owners explicitly, with an infection identifiable by symptoms such as changes to your file extensions and being unable to open the encrypted content. Use any means appropriate for data recovery after deleting the MasterBuster Ransomware with the assistance of your anti-malware software.

A Public Service Turned into a Public Menace

For a file-encrypting Trojan's campaign, how a ransom is communicated and processed is one of the crucial elements that can make or break its profitability. Different threats may vary from delivering an e-mail address, and no other information, up to the opposite extreme of providing links to an intuitive and informative Web infrastructure. Or, like the MasterBuster Ransomware, they may exploit publicly-available resources like Google Docs.

The MasterBuster Ransomware is part of a rapidly-growing collection of Trojans developed by independent threat actors from code misappropriated from the Hidden Tear project. It tries to install itself silently by suppressing any Windows error messages and monitoring the Registry to keep its system persistence continuously. Then, it starts encoding any files with document or image-based extensions (such as JPG, GIF, DOCX) with an AES cipher and adds the '.hcked' extension onto their names.

After it blocks the above data types, the MasterBuster Ransomware drops a TXT file onto your desktop that contains its ransom demands. There are two unusual characteristics in this otherwise standard feature. Firstly, the MasterBuster Ransomware targets Bengali-speaking victims, such as residents of Bangladesh and India. Secondly, the MasterBuster Ransomware asks its victims to fill out fields in a Google Docs link before being contacted by SMS or e-mail. Malware experts rarely see either trait in evidence among other file-encrypting Trojans, which target English speakers typically and use Web pages with alternate, more legally questionable host providers.

Busting Your Encryption Problem

Although the MasterBuster Ransomware uses an almost comically user-friendly way of handling its extortion demands, this innovation may backfire against its long-term viability. Google does take actions against users that exploit its services for illegal purposes, such as copyright infringement or profiting from threat campaigns. However, even with its intended means of profit cut off, the MasterBuster Ransomware remains potentially hazardous solely due to its capacity for encrypting your pictures and text documents, possibly irrevocably.

Bengali speakers can watch the infection vectors malware analysts tie to this campaign currently: e-mail messages carrying Trojan installers disguising themselves as PDF documents. Standard anti-malware protection should suffice for removing the MasterBuster Ransomware beforehand, although a successful infection could damage your files with no safe recovery options for users who don't keep backups.

Threat actors often commit attacks 'the same old way' for good reasons. The MasterBuster Ransomware may hamper its intended profits with its personal creativity, but, unfortunately, that misstep doesn't equate to a safer payload against its victims.

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:



file.exe File name: file.exe
Size: 33.7 MB (33701888 bytes)
MD5: 18977c78983d5e3f59531bd6654ad20f
Detection count: 5
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 18, 2020
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