ThunderCrypt Ransomware

Posted: May 11, 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:	8/10
Infected PCs:	1,387

First Seen:	May 11, 2017
Last Seen:	April 21, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The ThunderCrypt Ransomware is a Trojan that uses double-layered encryption to make your files' data illegible to their related programs. Its attacks also include launching pop-ups that ask for Bitcoin money before its threat actor provides a decryptor. Use free decryptors or backups, as appropriate, to recover anything that this Trojan locks, and anti-malware programs for removing the ThunderCrypt Ransomware as soon as possible.

Social Media Turning into Extortion Launching Pads

While it's not a programming obstacle, social engineering plays a part in facilitating the threat industry that's difficult to overstate. Through various means of psychological manipulation, con artists may trick a victim into installing threats like file-encrypting Trojans, among other acts of self-harm. For the ThunderCrypt Ransomware campaign, the first mistake is no more than visiting a Web forum.

Threat actors started distributing the ThunderCrypt Ransomware after hacking the Taiwan-based 'eyny' forum site recently, which began delivering a fake Flash update to all visitors. Enabling this fictitious patch installs the ThunderCrypt Ransomware, which encrypts different file formats, including text documents, pictures and other media. Malware can substantiate claims of the ThunderCrypt Ransomware's using both AES and RSA algorithms for its encryption, which reduces the chances of its ever being decrypted by third parties drastically

The ThunderCrypt Ransomware also launches a pop-up that displays its ransoming instructions. Additional social engineering exploits that the Trojan includes in its text consist of a live countdown for paying, an additional date field, and various warnings against trying other recovery techniques. The ThunderCrypt Ransomware's authors also were careful to provide links explaining the nature of data encryption and Bitcoin, the latter of which is the demanded ransom format. The first link in the window also provides the victims with a full list of their encoded files.

Downgrading Yourself from a Toxic Update

The ThunderCrypt Ransomware claims that not paying before its deadline will cause the permanent deletion of your decryption key, potentially making it impossible to unlock your files. Since the con artists, after receiving ransoms, may not give you a decryptor necessarily, malware analysts still advise keeping backups that take the potential for harm out of their hands. The ThunderCrypt Ransomware's overarching family, if any, is not yet identifiable. Victims can offer requested file data to any interested anti-malware researchers to see if free decryption may be possible.

Although the administrators of the forum spreading the ThunderCrypt Ransomware are re-securing their website, con artists can accomplish similar drive-by-downloads via other domains, including advertising networks. Disabling in-browser scripts, and other, advanced content, can block some of these attacks, while most anti-malware products can either delete the ThunderCrypt Ransomware or block Web addresses associated with unsafe activity.

It's important to update your software habitually, but the price of getting a patch from the wrong source isn't a small one. Before you download and launch a new 'update,' stop and determine where it's coming from, assuming that your files have any value to you.

ThunderCrypt Ransomware

Threat Metric

Social Media Turning into Extortion Launching Pads

Downgrading Yourself from a Toxic Update

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