Veracrypt Ransomware

Posted: August 24, 2016

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:	99

First Seen:	August 24, 2016
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Veracrypt Ransomware is a Trojan that uses encryption standards to encipher your PC's files, keeping you from reaching their content until you pay a ransom. Paying the remote attacker may or may not give you access to a decryptor, and you always should attempt all other options before doing so. Malware experts can recommend the same general defenses against this threat as with others of its family, including using backups and installing anti-malware tools that can delete the Veracrypt Ransomware immediately.

A Ray of Light on a Trojan Clone

Because of the reliable prominence of third-party Trojan creation kits in the threat industry, malware researchers often see new versions of old threats exhibiting only subtle differences between them. One can find a clear conceptualization of how this business model by looking at the Veracrypt Ransomware. This Trojan derives itself from the Crysis Ransomware, a family responsible for numerous, similar threats.

The Crysis Ransomware's original developers rent customized builds of their threatening software to other remote attackers, who pay either upfront or in a percentage of profits for that privilege. They then create a new variant of the Trojan, such as the Veracrypt Ransomware, which uses a personal e-mail address, but uses all of the essential attack features of the rest of its family. Once the remote attacker distributes the Veracrypt Ransomware by any means of his choosing, new PCs are infected and targeted with data encrypting attacks.

The Veracrypt Ransomware limits its attack to files with appropriate locations and formats and doesn't damage your operating system. Due to both small size and popularity, the Microsoft Office content is a particularly prominent series of formats for encryption attacks. MP3 or MP4 audio, Notepad TXT, and other formats also are at risk of being encrypted. Besides encrypting the data through an AES-256 algorithm followed by the RSA key protection, the Veracrypt Ransomware also makes additions to their names, including, most importantly, its e-mail address.

Having Faith in Overcoming Attempted Data Extortion

Visually, malware experts noted the Veracrypt Ransomware's wallpaper-locking features as being most detectable. The Trojan recycles the graphics in use by the 'Makdonalds@india.com' Ransomware previously, which implies the availability of general resources for ransom delivery provided by the Trojan's original authors. The eventual goal of the remote attacker is to convince the victims into paying a ransom fee for decrypting the content, but such payments have no legal protections.

You should follow any identification of these symptoms with the proper application of anti-malware products for uninstalling the Veracrypt Ransomware. Allowing this threat to remain on your PC during any attempted file recovery could give it opportunities to encrypt other data and cause even more damage. Network access and removable drives also should be kept restricted for the duration.

Outside of offering a limited view into some of the operational standards behind its business model, the Veracrypt Ransomware isn't extraordinarily different from other releases of the Crysis Ransomware. Even so, PC owners will have to continue remaining alert to new infection strategies that offspring of this central threat might exploit.

Veracrypt Ransomware

Threat Metric

A Ray of Light on a Trojan Clone

Having Faith in Overcoming Attempted Data Extortion

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