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Sqpc Ransomware

Posted: May 8, 2020

The Sqpc Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan from the Ransomware-as-a-Service known as the STOP Ransomware. The Sqpc Ransomware may distract victims with imitations of Windows updates while it locks their files by encrypting them securely. Users should have backups for making data recovery painless, and anti-malware solutions for deleting the Sqpc Ransomware safely.

The Randomly-Named Lockdown Continues

Although the STOP Ransomware is the most amusingly-counterintuitive of one RaaS family's list of aliases, a popular secondary name, the Djvu Ransomware, is proving more apt for new versions of the Trojan. The group of file-locking Trojans is continuing with using randomized four-character names as the only 'theme' to their attacks, which contrasts with more colorful equivalents like the Jigsaw Ransomware or the RagnorakCry Ransomware. The Sqpc Ransomware, as a recent release in May, keeps the familial trait intact.

The Sqpc Ransomware also has many of the other aspects that malware researchers see in most versions of the STOP Ransomware, a la Mpal Ransomware, Qewe Ransomware, Npsg Ransomware, and Kodg Ransomware. Its original file is less than a megabyte and targets Windows systems, which it infects by currently-unidentified strategies. Despite the Trojan's small size, its internal encryption routine lends it the ability to block nearly all media on the user's PC, from documents and spreadsheets to movies and archives.

The Sqpc Ransomware keeps users from reacting to the attack by displaying a 'Windows Update' pop-up for a distraction. Besides locking files, it creates a text file with its ransom demands for an unlocker, changes various network settings, and tampers with Hosts domain-to-IP-address mappings for blocking multiple websites, as well. In that last case, malware experts only find the Sqpc Ransomware's family blocking 'security' websites, including not just dedicated AV vendors, but broader-purpose companies like Microsoft.

Pulling Your Files Back from a Random Trojan's Pit of Greed

The Sqpc Ransomware makes money off of its attacks, like every other Ransomware-as-a-Service, by selling its decryption 'product.' Threat actors don't always give the service as they claim to render, however, and poorly-programmed decryption software can cause more file damage in a failed unlocking attempt. Windows users also shouldn't depend on the Restore Points too exclusively, which the Sqpc Ransomware will delete with a basic CMD command that's common among threats of its class.

For the STOP Ransomware family, Asian countries are at more risk of an attack than others slightly. Unfortunately, occasional infections are confirmable in places as far from that 'home territory' as North America. Users should avoid downloading illicit torrents or similar content, vet their incoming e-mail attachments with proper threat-analyzing software, and secure any servers they administrate via suitable updates and passwords. Prevention is critical for file-locking Trojans, whose attacks are reversible without sacrifices rarely – either financially or in terms of digital media.

Reliable Windows anti-malware programs are identifying most versions of the STOP Ransomware. Since malware experts confirm no defensive inclusions that change this here, victims should be comfortable in depending on such services for deleting the Sqpc Ransomware or stopping infections.

The work that its hiring 'author' put into the Sqpc Ransomware isn't much, but even distributing a new version of an old Trojan is cause for concern. Files, like any possession, only are as safe as one keeps them, whether the protection is a locked door or a password-protected server.

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