Tsar Ransomware

The Tsar Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that's a variant of the previous BlackRouter or BlackHeart Ransomware. Besides blocking media files, it also creates pop-ups asking for one thousand USD ransoms for restoring them. Users always should back their work up for protection against file-locking Trojans of all families while having at least one anti-malware product on-hand for removing the Tsar Ransomware.

A Dark Heart Beating Again

The BlackHeart Ransomware is one of the smallest families inside the Ransomware-as-a-Service industry, and, by the numbers, competes with dominant forces like the STOP Ransomware or the Dharma Ransomware minimally. Still, threat actors are hiring it for the traditional attacks of sabotaging files and getting ransoms out of it, much like with the more numerous alternatives. After the 2018's M@r1a Ransomware and the 2019's 'nomoreletters@protonmail.ch' Ransomware and the Prodecryptor Ransomware, 2020 has the latest 'birth': the Tsar Ransomware.

The Tsar Ransomware is a Windows program that's well-recognizable as a member of its family, thanks to the pop-up warning it generates. The alert includes an encryption warning (RSA, AES, and ChaCha20), a one thousand USD ransom demand, a live countdown before the price doubles, and an embedded e-mail form. The relatively high expense in this version of the Trojan implies attacks against business entities and similar targets, which can occur through Exploit Kits on websites with industry-specific traffic, e-mail phishing lures, or brute-force hacking of admin accounts.

The Tsar Ransomware also includes a semi-redundant ransom note in a TXT format. This message is significant for including additional ransoming data, such as specifying Bitcoins and appeals to emotion (the threat actor's assertion of paying for healthcare for an ailing mother). Verifying the latter is, of course, impossible, and many criminals include similar psychological manipulative details for maximizing their profit margins.

Crushing the Heart of Data-Destroying Profits

Users can find anything that the Tsar Ransomware is locking by searching their folders for files with 'Tsar' extensions, which are unique to this threat. However, doing so doesn't assist them with recovery necessarily; the BlackHeart Ransomware family lacks a free decryptor. Users can seek help from cryptography-specialized researchers, if necessary, but should have backups for recovering any encrypted media in the worst circumstances.

All versions of the Tsar Ransomware are .NET Framework-using Windows executables, using names such as 'SF.exe' or 'lio.exe.' Both of these versions lack digital signatures and are highly detectable by all of the traditional anti-malware services. Malware experts recommend not activating macros, scanning downloads before opening, installing security patches, and using strong passwords as reasonable protections against any infection vectors.

Users may either delete the Tsar Ransomware or quarantine it safely for further study by qualified researchers, which may facilitate decryption solutions.

As quiet as BlackHeart Ransomware is, in comparison to opposed families, it's just another Trojan business at large. Like the more prominent names on the playing field, it represents the dangers of forgetting your weekly or daily backup, the price of which is, too often, measurable in three or four digits.