NCrypt Ransomware

Posted: October 12, 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:	97

First Seen:	October 12, 2016
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The NCrypt Ransomware is a threat that infects computers and then uses the AES-256 encryption to encrypt a large number of files stored on the infected machine. Apart from encrypting their contents, the NCrypt Ransomware also appends the '.NCRYPT' extension to the name of each encrypted file. When the NCrypt Ransomware is finished encrypting and renaming files, it proceeds to the last stage of the attack which drops a file called '_FILE_RETRIEVAL_INSTRUCTIONS.HTML' on the victim's computer. This is the ransom note, which is rather short, and simply tells users that their important data has been encrypted via the AES-256 algorithm. The NCrypt Ransomware then warns victims that the only way they can restore their files is by paying 0.2 BTC (approximately $120) to the Bitcoin address mentioned in the ransom note. A quick search on the Web shows that the Bitcoin wallet used by the NCrypt Ransomware's operators is empty, and there are no incoming transactions to this address. This is good news as it means that no victims have paid the ransom fee, and the con artists aren't getting any money for their evil deeds.

The NCrypt Ransomware warns victims that they have a limited amount of time to pay the ransom fee. If this requirement is not met, then their decryption key and the utility will be deleted permanently, therefore preventing them from recovering any of their files. Unfortunately, there isn't a free tool to help recover files locked by the NCrypt Ransomware. However, this does not mean that victims should consider paying the ransom fee. Don't forget that the people who promise to unlock your files are the same people that developed and released the file encryption threat that got you in trouble. Paying them the money guarantees nothing, and it is very likely that they may disappear with the decryption utility and your money as well.

People whose computers have been infected by the NCrypt Ransomware ransomware should start the healing process by downloading and running a reputable anti-malware scanner. This should ensure that all of the NCrypt Ransomware's threatening components are removed from the computer, and the threat will not have the ability to cause more damage than it already has. Sadly, the only way to recover the files encrypted by the NCrypt Ransomware is by using a recent backup that the ransomware didn't damage. If a backup is not available, we advise users to preserve their encrypted files, because experts in the cyber security field might be able to come up with a decryption utility to tackle the NCrypt Ransomware's encryption.

NCrypt Ransomware

Threat Metric

Related Posts

Leave a Reply