PaySafeGen Ransomware

Posted: November 10, 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:	47

First Seen:	November 10, 2016
Last Seen:	January 21, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The PaySafeGen Ransomware is a Trojan that blocks your files with the AES-256 encryption and delivers ransom demands for providing data recovery if you pay within three days. Current samples of the PaySafeGen Ransomware disguise themselves as generators for prepaid PaySafeCard cards and, accordingly, associate themselves with black market websites and other, illegal software resources strongly. PC users may remove the PaySafeGen Ransomware with any standard anti-malware product, although no decryption utilities are available to the public at no charge.

The Costly Risk Behind Software Offering 'Free' Cash

Very often, the different social engineering strategies con artists use for disseminating threatening software focus on ever-present societal ills like the universal need for more money. One threat to take particularly self-indulgent use of this facade is the PaySafeGen Ransomware. Malware experts verified this Trojan disguising itself as a generator for PaySafeCard numbers, supposedly letting their users create Euros out of nothing. The 'PaySafeCard Generator 2016' UI is a distraction; while the victim is generating fake card numbers, the PaySafeGen Ransomware is encrypting their files.

The PaySafeGen Ransomware uses an AES-256 algorithm against a small number of formats: documents (DOC, DOCX, TXT and PDF), MP3 audio, pictures (JPG and PNG) and spreadsheets (XLS and XLSX). The PaySafeGen Ransomware also modifies their extension tags: for example, 'document.doc' would become 'document.cry_doc.' Even after renaming the extensions back to normal, the internal data of each file has been encoded, blocking it until a decryption utility decodes it. Through an HTML pop-up, the PaySafeGen Ransomware gives its victims a chance to buy the decryption code and recover their data before the threat actor deletes the key at the end of three days. So far, malware analysts only have seen German versions of this threat.

Ironically, the Trojan's ransom UI uses PaySafeCard.

Escaping Other People's Free Money Generators

With the PaySafeGen Ransomware being a new threat that has limited distribution, the PC security industry has not, yet, created a decryption program designed to reverse its encryption damage. Until that day, potential victims will need to maintain backups that can overwrite any encrypted content with the last saved, non-encrypted copy. For increased certainty of a safe backup, our malware analysts endorse backups on password-protected cloud servers or devices that you leave disconnected from any online PCs.

The PaySafeGen Ransomware includes multiple components, which it hides in the user's Windows profile directory. These files use misleading and, in some cases, randomly-generated names to stop you from identifying them visually. Whenever your initial security settings fail to block this Trojan's installation, allow your anti-malware programs to scan your PC and remove the PaySafeGen Ransomware automatically.

Meanwhile, PC users downloading files from illicit sources should consider that, while money is a universally good thing, its universality also makes it an excellent disguise for evils like the PaySafeGen Ransomware.

PaySafeGen Ransomware

Threat Metric

The Costly Risk Behind Software Offering 'Free' Cash

Escaping Other People's Free Money Generators

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