MaxiCrypt Ransomware

Posted: November 29, 2017

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.

Ranking:	10,578
Threat Level:	5/10
Infected PCs:	604

First Seen:	March 1, 2022
Last Seen:	October 6, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The MaxiCrypt Ransomware is a Trojan that can block a PC's work and recreation-related files by converting them into encoded formats. A MaxiCrypt Ransomware infection will eschew any symptoms until it finishes inflicting this damage, after which, it renames your media and presents you with a Notepad text message. Use anti-malware programs to block or uninstall the MaxiCrypt Ransomware safely, and keep backups to lower its chances of doing anything that's irreversible to your work.

When the Names of Your Files are Up for Grabs

File-locking attacks often have to strike a balance between confusing the victim with maximum damage versus leaving them enough intact data to motivate paying a ransom. This give-and-take is most evident with the many file-locker Trojans who choose to avoid specific, essential locations, such as the Windows directory. However, a new Trojan, the MaxiCrypt Ransomware, is pushing its attacks slightly further than most of its counterparts by also obfuscating the names of the files that it blocks.

While it appears to be in deployment against the public and has symptoms very similar to those of the Crysis Ransomware, the MaxiCrypt Ransomware is just one out of a series of related Trojans that share the same ransoming infrastructure, such as email addresses. Malware experts also are connecting previous attacks by a variant of the Scarab Ransomware to the same threat actor, although the MaxiCrypt Ransomware is unrelated to that family. Its primary function, as usual, abuses the AES-based encryption standards to lock a range of media files, such as MP3s, DOCs, or ZIPs, in different locations throughout the infected computer.

The MaxiCrypt Ransomware's additional features include a Notepad extortion message that asks the victim to contact the email address to buy a file-unlocking service, along with substantial changes to the names of every piece of locked data. These edits include appending dual extensions, a bracketed e-mail address and the 'maxicrypt' string. More oddly than that, the MaxiCrypt Ransomware also renames the rest of the file, which could obstruct significantly any efforts at identifying what content the Trojan is locking precisely.

Affording Yourself Maximized Security against a MaxiCrypt Ransomware

Since this Trojan is entirely functional and can cause potentially permanent damage to your digital media, implementing proactive data storage and security steps are core to mitigating a MaxiCrypt Ransomware infection. Although there has been a rise in file-locking threats who attack network and cloud storage, malware experts still can encourage these resources in most cases, as well as backups that the user secures on any portable drive such as a USB stick.

The campaigns of file-locking Trojans often use corrupted e-mail attachments for breaching the security of new PCs and may disguise themselves as invoices, notifications from office equipment, or messages from known contacts. Scanning your downloads before opening them and avoiding enabling potentially dangerous content, such as Word macros, can improve your safety against these threats. Since there is no freeware decryptor, deleting the MaxiCrypt Ransomware via an appropriate anti-malware program automatically, is the best way to keep your media undamaged.

The MaxiCrypt Ransomware's symptoms are similar to those of multiple, previous Trojans, but this Trojan appears to use a separate means of data encryption. It's worth remembering that a Trojan's appearances often are disingenuous and can lead you into paying ransoms for poor reasons or lure you away from finding free ways to accomplish what a cybercrook is trying to sell you.

MaxiCrypt Ransomware

Threat Metric

When the Names of Your Files are Up for Grabs

Affording Yourself Maximized Security against a MaxiCrypt Ransomware

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