NoValid Ransomware

Posted: December 5, 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:	1/10
Infected PCs:	522

First Seen:	December 5, 2016
Last Seen:	January 28, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The NoValid Ransomware is a Trojan that attacks your data with a cipher to lock the files. While victims may try to pay the NoValid Ransomware's ransom for recovering the blocked content, these payments can be in vain, and malware experts always advise finding alternatives. Because of the time necessary for this Trojan's payload to complete, qualified anti-malware products should detect and remove the NoValid Ransomware before it finishes damaging your files.

Getting Locked into a Cyber-Extortion Trap

The NoValid Ransomware is a Trojan of an unidentified family whose activities first became visible in late November. Although the means by which its threat actors are installing it remain up for investigation, the Trojan does include many of the same attacks already seen from threats like Hidden Tear, Troldesh, and the Crysis Ransomware. Its central conceit is using an algorithm for enciphering your locally-saved data, putting it under a lock-down.

The NoValid Ransomware uses what malware experts estimate is a variant of the AES, although confirmation of the Trojan's claims of implementing the AES-256 (the form of Rijndael with the longest key size and, therefore, the most security) still is underway. The Trojan helps its victims identify which files it blocks by appending a '.NoValid' extension onto their names. It caps its successful data blockade by depositing shortcuts for its ransom message, an HTML Web page.

Some victims do choose to pay the ransom options delivered through these Trojan campaigns, which can open the possibility of the threat actors responding in good faith, and reversing the cipher. The NoValid Ransomware also may delete the Shadow Copy data that would allow Windows to retrieve the damaged content from a default backup. This last act denies the victim one of the easiest ways to recover the data without using a decryptor.

Valid Reasons for Pushing a Ransom to the Side

In file-encrypting threat campaigns, malware experts also see con artists often breaking their sides of the agreement, as best exemplified with Trojans like the 'Batman_good@aol.com' Ransomware. While no specific decryption utilities are yet available for the NoValid Ransomware, victims may want to use multi-purpose decryptors on offer by various security organizations. However, decryption never is a guarantee, and for many families of Trojans, a decryption solution is impossible.

Keeping backups that you update frequently can relieve you of any permanent file loss that the NoValid Ransomware could cause. However, since this Trojan still represents a security threat that could create a backdoor for other attacks, malware experts recommend removing the NoValid Ransomware through anti-malware tools in all cases, regardless of the fate of the nature of your file retrieval (or lack of it). Backups stored on local or network-accessible drives may be subject to being erased, although ones on removable devices and most cloud servers should be highly reliable.

Con artists being able to profit from the NoValid Ransomware's campaign is due to a lack of data redundancy protection on the part of their victims strictly. Even a small amount of time invested in backup software or strategies can be just as valuable as full-blown anti-malware suites for protecting your PC from 2016's most prominent threats.

NoValid Ransomware

Threat Metric

Getting Locked into a Cyber-Extortion Trap

Valid Reasons for Pushing a Ransom to the Side

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