Storm Ransomware

Posted: July 31, 2017

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:	97

First Seen:	July 31, 2017
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Storm Ransomware is a Trojan that encrypts your files to block them until you pay for its decryption help. While malware researchers estimate that the Storm Ransomware's development isn't complete, the Trojan's payload can damage the saved information on your PC, along with showing other symptoms, such as pop-ups. Backing up your files to another device can keep them out of this threat's reach, and anti-malware products can disable and remove the Storm Ransomware.

Another Storm Front Casting Shade over Your Files

A new threat actor appears to be just starting to develop a threat capable of turning blocked content into a stream of undeserved income. This prospective campaign, going by the name of the Storm Ransomware, has not seen any wide distribution and shows several signs of incomplete production. However, malware analysts can confirm that it's just as able as any of its more sophisticated competition at damaging files with encryption, which keeps the resulting content from opening.

The Storm Ransomware uses the CBC mode AES encryption to encipher the files on the infected PC and may try to block formats including spreadsheets, text documents, pictures, and archives, among other content. A variety of hard-coded strings in the Storm Ransomware's source code also implies that the Trojan isn't generating a custom key for decryption purposes dynamically, which could make the Storm Ransomware especially vulnerable to reverse engineering attempts that can help develop a free decryptor. However, casual PC users may not be aware that methods other than paying the Storm Ransomware's ransom can decrypt and unlock their files.

The Trojan also uses a simple, HTA-based pop-up window for showing its ransom demands, which ask for Bitcoins in return for giving access to its decryption function. Other UI elements appear to be incomplete, including the wallet address that supposedly receives the ransom money, and, currently, victims have no way to pay. The author's relative inexperience in black hat campaigns also is evident in his choice of a Gmail-based e-mail address, similarly to the attacks of WinBan Ransomware.

Weather without the Threat of Ransom

Further investigation into the Storm Ransomware is likely to prove profitable for providing victims with recovery strategies from its data-locking attacks. Despite these promising leads, malware analysts never recommend avoiding backing up any files that need to remain safe in the long term. Simple data redundancy solutions, such as copying your files to a free USB drive and unplugging it, can eliminate any bargaining power that threats such as the Storm Ransomware might have after compromising your PC.

As often happens, the Storm Ransomware is showing a fully working encryption feature before many of its other components, including the ransoming and decryption methodology, be in their final forms. PC users always should assume that even 'unfinished' Trojans with encryption-related payloads are severe dangers to their file data potentially. Use anti-malware programs for blocking this threat's infection methods, such as e-mail attachments or torrents, as well as for removing the Storm Ransomware when it does install itself.

Lucky PC users may not be risking attacks from the Storm Ransomware necessarily, whose campaign isn't likely to be in direct competition against sophisticated RaaS software or families like Hidden Tear. However, betting on luck to save your files is a lifestyle choice with transparent disadvantages compared to doing what it takes to protect your computer.

Storm Ransomware

Threat Metric

Another Storm Front Casting Shade over Your Files

Weather without the Threat of Ransom

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