Moth Ransomware
Posted: July 26, 2016
Threat Metric
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: | 8/10 |
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Infected PCs: | 450 |
First Seen: | July 26, 2016 |
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Last Seen: | March 14, 2022 |
OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The Moth Ransomware is a file encryption Trojan that holds data hostage with the promise of restoring it once you pay its fee. Like almost any other Trojan of its kind, the Moth Ransomware provides no firm guarantee of its data restoration services, and malware experts emphasize using preemptive data storage methods to keep its attacks from damaging your files. Whether or not you get your files back, always remove the Moth Ransomware with anti-malware tools that can identify any additional threats that may be installing themselves with it or responsible for its installation.
A New Trojan to Your Bitcoin Account like a Moth to Flame
Although Trojans sometimes are compared to rapidly-reproducing vermin, a threat invites as a direct comparison as the Moth Ransomware rarely. This Trojan uses what malware analysts currently estimate as being an AES-256 algorithm to encipher its victim's data, and then adds its '.m0th' to each file. Like any digital contents modified by a Rijndael algorithm, the internal contents of each file is made uninterpretable by their associated programs, but the data still is recoverable with a matching decryption routine.
The full range of extensions at risk from the Moth Ransomware still is being determined, but malware experts' early estimates note that it could target over two dozen types. Formats most often under threat from harmful file encoders include text documents, spreadsheets, images, archives, Web page components, audio, and popular freeware or Microsoft software data.
Most data encryption Trojans prefer using TXT messages for delivering their ransom demands, and the Moth Ransomware continues this industry-wide inclination. Rather than asking for any e-mail contact, the Moth Ransomware recommends using BitMessage (an anonymous, P2P messaging client) to contact its developers and make a payment. Malware experts have yet to log any ransom negotiations for speculation on their demands, although most ransomware campaigns use Bitcoin ransoms with a minimum value of 200 USD.
Blowing out a Trojan-Luring Candle
The Moth Ransomware has no apparent relationship with other threat campaigns of its kind and shows few differences from similar file enciphering threats. Although no entities in the PC security sector have come forward to provide a free decryption program for the Moth Ransomware, this threat still can be crippled by a prepared PC user. Backing your files up to secure locations will keep the Moth Ransomware from being able to cause any permanent data loss, turning its ransom demands into empty threats.
E-mail and, to a much lesser extent, website-based exploit kits are two of the most common means of acquiring infections of this type. Preexisting security standards, such as updating software, disabling scripts, and scanning attachments from unrecognizable senders all should identify Trojan droppers that could install the Moth Ransomware automatically. Your anti-malware tools, if active, also may disable and delete the Moth Ransomware before it can finish encrypting any data.
Besides its obvious impact on the need for Web security, the Moth Ransomware also shows the dangerous side of technological idealism. While Web industry players often voice concerns about security abuses and the need for anonymity, con artists like the Moth Ransomware's authors are just as happy to make use of the benefits of privacy as anyone else.
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