Xavier Ransomware

The Xavier Ransomware is a file-locker Trojan that can move your files into a password-protected archive. Its attacks may include ransoming messages in Notepad's TXT, or other formats, that tell you to pay for retrieving them. Users should keep their work backed up to other devices, when possible, and let their anti-malware solutions remove the Xavier Ransomware from the PC.

A Trojan with a Quick Fix in Its Name

An overwhelming majority of file-locker Trojans use a consistent strategy for locking the data of their victims: encrypting each file with an algorithm such as AES-256 individually and, optionally, making cosmetic changes to the names, such as inserting fake extensions. On the other hand, some threats that malware experts come across use a more atypical technique: exploiting data-compression programs like WinZip or WinRAR. The Xavier Ransomware displays both this trait and the dangers of relying on it – for criminals.

Like the WinRarer Ransomware of several years ago or the more recent AlldataLocker Ransomware, the Xavier Ransomware abuses WinRAR by moving the victim's files into a RAR archive and setting a password that stops the user from opening it. The Xavier Ransomware is small regarding its raw code exceptionally, and the 'encryption' module that performs this task consists of a handful of lines of instructions. Malware experts are corroborating the extent of the Xavier Ransomware's attacks as limiting themselves to Windows account-associated directories, such as Documents, Downloads, Music or Pictures.

While the above attack locks the media from being accessible essentially, the Xavier Ransomware includes a massive vulnerability. Currently, all versions of the Xavier Ransomware use a static 'xavier' password (note the lower case) that the victims can input for retrieving their work. Although many file-locker Trojans have equivalent passwords, most of them store their keys on an external server that's under the control of the threat actor for stopping any client-side decryption.

An Archival Process that's on Your Side

As one can note with the previous Trojans of a similar nature, the Xavier Ransomware's RAR-exploiting strategy is, by no means, unique to itself. Samples that malware experts see, so far, have little to no security for keeping third parties from uncovering the passwords for any RAR archives and regaining access to the so-called 'locked' files. However, that weakness could become patched out, in the future, and the users should have backups available as a precaution against such an eventuality. Well-used backup locations should include at least one other PC or storage device that's not in immediate contact with a potentially infectable computer.

The Xavier Ransomware asks for roughly fifty USD through the Monero cryptocurrency, but may not give the users a password for retrieving their files necessarily. Besides backing their work up, the users can keep themselves safe by avoiding e-mail attachments that may lead to infections, disabling sometimes-threatening content like JavaScript, updating their server software, and using secure logins. Although the threat's campaign has no relations with black market businesses like the Ransomware-as-a-Service sector, the victims, still, should quarantine it as a credible threat and let a dedicated anti-malware tool delete the Xavier Ransomware.

The data security issues that the Xavier Ransomware instigates could be much worse than they are. There are reasons why many file-locker Trojans perform nearly-identical attacks, and creativity, in a campaign like the Xavier Ransomware's, isn't rewarded necessarily.