TorrentLocker Ransomware

Posted: August 19, 2014

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:	1,881

First Seen:	August 19, 2014
Last Seen:	June 29, 2021
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The TorrentLocker Ransomware is a new file encryptor Trojan whose campaign is believed to be targeting Australian resi-dents through disguised e-mail files. Like the CryptoWall Ransomware or CryptoLocker, whose components the TorrentLocker Ransomware borrows, the TorrentLocker Ransomware modifies file data on your PC to make the files unreadable, thereafter demanding a BitCoin ransom in exchange for reversing the attack. As an alternative to rewarding its creators for their bad behavior, mal-ware researchers would recommend using file backups to ignore the consequences of these attacks, and anti-malware prod-ucts to remove the TorrentLocker Ransomware from any infected PCs.

The TorrentLocker Ransomware: the File Lock-Up that's not as Tight as You'd Think

The TorrentLocker Ransomware is a clear example of threat authors taking other authors' work for personal use, and the TorrentLocker Ransomware even presents itself as a variant of the 'CryptoLocker Virus' in its ransom messages. This misleading message most likely is an effort to make victims believe that their files suffer from encryption by a strong algorithm that would be difficult to break, as opposed to the Rijindael algorithm in use by the TorrentLocker Ransomware. In spite of the relative weakness of Rijindael, malware experts have noted evidence of the TorrentLocker Ransomware rotating the passwords used for its file-encrypting attacks that may make a reversal of its effects by third-party utilities difficult.

However, the TorrentLocker Ransomware's attacks begin with disguised executable files that are distributed through e-mail messages, most likely as fake invoices and delivery notification messages. Because of the use of Australian domains and currencies in the TorrentLocker Ransomware's ransom messages, malware researchers find Australian residents to be in the greatest danger of the TorrentLocker Ransomware attacks, although the TorrentLocker Ransomware is not necessarily regionally specific in terms of its code. Despite borrowing separate modules of both the CryptoWall Ransomware and CryptoLocker, two similar ransomware families, the TorrentLocker Ransomware's internal code is independent and is verifiable as a separate threat.

Protecting Your Computer from the Latest in File Lockers

The TorrentLocker Ransomware is coded to make contact with a remote server prior to initializing its file-encrypting attack. Because of this weakness, PCs that lack Internet connections will not have their files encrypted. Ordinarily, scanning suspicious e-mail files with appropriate security software also should identify the TorrentLocker Ransomware's mislabeled EXE files and similar threat droppers. Detecting the TorrentLocker Ransomware after its installation may be complicated by its injection into the normal Windows process of explorer.exe. For PCs that already have had their files compromised by the TorrentLocker Ransomware, malware researchers find it simplest to recommend restoring the files from a remote backup source, such as a USB device or cloud storage server.

The TorrentLocker Ransomware may not show any new functions that would make the TorrentLocker Ransomware an innovative example of a file locker Trojan. Nonetheless, its dearth of creativity doesn't translate into the TorrentLocker Ransomware being an ignorable PC threat, and its attacks are just as easily capable of depriving you of access to Word documents, image files or audio files, as some examples of potentially affected data. As a final reminder, malware experts find no advantage to paying the BitCoin ransom that the TorrentLocker Ransomware demands, due to the general lack of trustworthiness regarding ill-minded persons keeping their words about restoring encrypted files.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

%WINDIR%\system32\lsassw86s.exe

File name: lsassw86s.exe
Size: 567.8 KB (567808 bytes)
MD5: ae6c0969b3925f3f6de0f05b20b29244
Detection count: 9
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %WINDIR%\system32
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: April 30, 2016

More files

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

Regexp file mask%WINDIR%\system32\lsassw86s.exe%WINDIR%\SysWOW64\lsassw86s.exe