TrickOrTreat Ransomware

Posted: October 26, 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:	28

First Seen:	October 26, 2017
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware is a Trojan that generates encryption-themed pop-ups that may ask you to pay money for restoring the files that it damages. Because this threat is in development, the details of any data-locking features it may have in the future are strictly speculative, although malware experts recommend assuming that it constitutes a risk to any media on an infected PC. Have your anti-malware programs remove the Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware securely and, if any local content suffers damage in the meantime, use backups for recovery.

Digital Fright in Development

Somewhat later than usual, 2017 is seeing its first mid-development, file-locking threat with a Halloween theme: the Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware. Analysis of this program by malware experts confirmed that the Trojan has only bare-bones functionality, for now, and can't cause permanent damage to the victim's media. However, is extremely likely that a future update to take place within the next few days will improve the Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware's attack capabilities.

The Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware is a Windows software that uses default forms features to generate its pop-up alerts, which claim that the victim is under attack by harmful encryption. If ever fully implemented, such a function could encode and block documents, photos, audio, and other formats with no symptoms. Threat actors often use Trojans like the Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware for locking the contents of the desktop, local documents folders, and downloads, among other locations.

While the Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware's Halloween killer-themed window does provide a decryption button to unlock your files, it has no function associated with the UI or additional, ransom-related information for the user to read currently. Malware experts recommend trying all other methods of unlocking data before you follow the traditional recommendations of threat actors, which often require paying a non-refundable cryptocurrency for a decryptor that may not work as advertised.

Numbing the Scares that Come in Trojan Packaging

The Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware's current build provides the basic template of an attack that could collect ransoms in return for locking the victim's media but doesn't have any of its core, data-threatening functions implemented. However, families like the Globe Ransomware, Hidden Tear, and EDA2 already offer straightforward means for con artists to use re-purpose preexisting code for such campaigns. Since an update to the Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware could come at any time, users should assume that the Trojan is capable of damaging files with an encoding method for which there may not be a cure necessarily.

PC users can protect documents and other, often-locked formats of media by saving backups to less vulnerable locations, including detachable storage and cloud-based servers. The Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware is not yet in a state of being ready for wild deployment but is likely to circulate through already-noted exploits, of which, malware analysts emphasize e-mail attachments, malicious web-browsing scripts, and fake downloads especially. Slightly over a dozen brands in the PC security sector are detecting and removing the Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware correctly, although they usually will identify it as being a 'fake' file-locking threat, thanks to its incomplete payload.

Con artists appreciate the power of holiday-themed social engineering for luring victims into doing what they want. No matter how frightening its iconography might be, the Trick-Or-Treat Ransomware offers the same poor deal as any, less 'spooky' Trojan: the prospect of paying money and getting nothing out of it to save your 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:

file.exe

File name: file.exe
Size: 569.85 KB (569856 bytes)
MD5: aa650a5aa6ab377a87bcebc479a41d35
Detection count: 25
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 26, 2017