Saturn Ransomware

Posted: February 16, 2018

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:	2/10
Infected PCs:	5

First Seen:	May 1, 2024
Last Seen:	May 13, 2024
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Saturn Ransomware is a Trojan that keeps your files locked with an encryption-based cipher while also delivering you demands for money to unlock them. Even though decryption software sometimes is available without any charges, malware experts can't verify any decryptor compatibility with the Saturn Ransomware and recommend reserving backups for any media recovery that you might need. Different anti-malware programs also can delete the Saturn Ransomware safely and keep this Trojan's attacks from completing.

When a Planet-Sized Shadow Falls over Your Files

A Trojan with file-locking features appears to be just opening up a campaign of, as is traditional, blocking data to make Bitcoins from the owners of the infected PCs. Right now, malware experts can't follow the Saturn Ransomware's development path back to a concrete ancestor. However, different entities in the AV sector are estimating that it's a variant of the batch file-based Serpent Ransomware or a part of the BTCWare Ransomware family. Regardless of its ancestry, the Saturn Ransomware can both lock your files, possibly permanently, and deliver extortion-promoting content to the infected computer.

The Saturn Ransomware is just over three hundred kilobytes, which makes it larger than most of the file-locking threats that malware analysts identify. On Windows systems, it encrypts a range of different formats of content, such as documents, spreadsheets or archives, with an unknown algorithm. This attack stops any encrypted media from opening, and the Saturn Ransomware also adds a '.saturn' extension for cosmetic purposes.

The Trojan also includes several means of communicating its ransom demands for giving the victim a data-restoring decryptor. These methods include two formats of text files and, potentially, a BMP image that the Saturn Ransomware uses for hijacking the Windows wallpaper. However, all of these messages redirect the user to the Saturn Ransomware's TOR-based website, which contains an interface for paying Bitcoin ransoms equaling three hundred USD in value.

Malware experts also highlight the presence of an additional 'key' file. This code isn't the decryption key; instead, it's a custom login for the victims' use when they sign in to the Saturn Ransomware's website.

Getting Your Digital Solar System Back in Order

Since the sample availability of the Saturn Ransomware is restricted, malware researchers are unable to provide confirmation or debunking of any decryption possibilities from freeware sources. Users can copy their encoded files for testing any compatibility that this Trojan's locked content might possess with different, AV sector-hosted decryptors. In the meantime, having a backup, especially one that's secured on a different device, is highly advisable to keep the Saturn Ransomware's damage minimal.

Threat actors may try to compromise your PC with the Saturn Ransomware after gaining access to it by more than one strategy. Infection vectors that malware experts are noting as relevant currently to the threat landscape include fake e-mail messages, ones carrying attached files especially, as well as brute-force attacks against any network that's using a conventionally poor password for logins. Traditional anti-malware products, still, should remove the Saturn Ransomware immediately, or disinfect your computer after the fact, if it's needed.

While the Saturn Ransomware isn't the most expensive ransom-levying Trojan, three hundred dollars in cryptocurrency is more than any computer owners should need to pay for their files. Failing to do your duty to protect your possessions, even digital ones, can become a driving force behind Trojan-based ill-minded enterprises like the Saturn Ransomware campaign.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

4p2k.wippal.site

BatXP.Saturn