Runsomewere Ransomware

Posted: November 25, 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:	8/10
Infected PCs:	9

First Seen:	November 28, 2016
Last Seen:	April 3, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Runsomewere Ransomware is a Trojan using code borrowed from the open source Hidden Tear and EDA2 projects. Its central features include hijacking your desktop with movie imagery, encrypting your files, and generating messages for ransom payments. Paying these illicit fees may not recover your data, and malware researchers most usually encourage restoring it through backups, along with stopping the Runsomewere Ransomware with any preferred anti-malware products.

A Familiar Face in File-Encrypting Attacks

Television and cinema are popular wellsprings of branding for con artists to graft onto their threat campaigns. One of the most notorious attempt at such brand embellishment is the abuse of the 'Saw' movie's puppet mascot for delivering extortion messages in the Jigsaw Ransomware campaign. After months, malware experts now see a new threat using the same type of imagery: the Runsomewere Ransomware.

Both of these threats share their core traits of using file-encrypting attacks to create a possible money-extorting scenario on your PC. The Runsomewere Ransomware has a confirmed family basing itself on Hidden Tear and EDA2 and continues using the project's traditional, AES-based encryption method. The encryption process may or may not include an additional feature for modifying the file name, such as by creating a new extension, although such changes are cosmetic in nature strictly. Either way, the encrypted content can't open or be read until after a specialized decryptor decodes it.

The Runsomewere Ransomware completes its payload by resetting the Windows desktop image to its provided 'Jigsaw' picture, with the apparent intent of scaring the victim into paying its ransom. Malware experts haven't acquired enough samples to determine patterns in the extortion payment side of the Runsomewere Ransomware's campaign, but most threats of its category prefer Bitcoin transactions starting at over a hundred USD.

Helping Your Hard Drive Escape an Information Death Trap

The Runsomewere Ransomware is showing none of the additional proclivities that made the first Jigsaw Ransomware so infamous currently, such as deleting your files periodically (in addition to any encryption). Despite being a lesser threat, by comparison, the Runsomewere Ransomware does represent potentially irrecoverable file damage that can destroy documents, pictures, spreadsheets, and other media that it finds on any local, network-mapped or removable drives. Observing a proper backup strategy is highly effective at limiting digital ransom attempts like the Runsomewere Ransomware's payload.

While malware researchers have yet to confirm the Runsomewere Ransomware's infection methods, most file-encrypting Trojans prefer dissemination via e-mail campaigns. In other instances, threat actors may install the Runsomewere Ransomware by hacking weakly password-protected RDP accounts or using exploit kits that they insert onto hostile websites. Active anti-malware protection can detect most of these vulnerabilities and remove the Runsomewere Ransomware before any irrecoverable harm occurs.

The Runsomewere Ransomware is hiding its attacks behind an old mask, but equally well-aged anti-malware and PC security strategies are just as valid as always for keeping this threat under control.

Runsomewere Ransomware

Threat Metric

A Familiar Face in File-Encrypting Attacks

Helping Your Hard Drive Escape an Information Death Trap

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