'.zXz File Extension' Ransomware

Posted: January 31, 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:	8/10
Infected PCs:	5

First Seen:	January 31, 2017
Last Seen:	December 14, 2019
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware is a Trojan that encrypts your files to block them and force you into paying its ransom for their recovery. Current attacks by this Trojan emphasize compromising business servers and widely-used formats of documents such as DOCs. Having proper network security, using anti-malware programs for removing the '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware automatically and backing up your work are all important ways of protecting yourself from this threat.

The Last Letters of the Alphabet Getting the Final Say on Your Files

Although relatively simple programs are capable of causing enormous damage to an unprotected PC, con artists often prefer designing threatening software that targets valuable content preferentially. The campaign of the '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware shows this strategy at work by making the most of a payload that its authors were careful to design for holding hostage content that's unlikely to be disposable. The '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware also is a minor statistical oddity for the nation its campaign is attacking currently: business systems in Saudi Arabia.

Besides its novel traits, the '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware conducts a campaign of typical, non-consensual file encryption. It enumerates all accessible hard drives, searching for formats of content including PDFs, DOCs, TXTs and other documents. Then, it encrypts them via an algorithm still under analysis and flags all of the locked content with the '.zXz' extension it appends after the original ones.

The '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware does appear to attack business systems and is compatible with locking the files only accessible via local network connections. The overall strategy gives the '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware's threat actors a blockade on potentially valuable and high-volume data, such as customer ID databases, which gives the victim incentive to pay their ransoming demands for decrypting the files.

Tossing out the Last Letters You Want to See

The '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware, also identifiable as a variant of Wagcrypt, offers an encapsulated educational lesson on how hackers can extort money through file data-based attacks. Although third parties are already providing assistance with identifying this threat as an independent entity from similar Trojans, no free decryptor application is being hosted currently, and samples of this Trojan are in limited supply. For PC users who can't decrypt their files and don't wish to risk paying a fee for potentially no advantage, malware experts endorse making regular backups and monitoring your network settings heavily.

Most attacks of this threat category use e-mail for compromising business targets, but threat actors particularly aggressive also can choose to hack a network account's login directly. Disguised threats installing this Trojan may pretend to be a real document but with included vulnerabilities, particularly macro-based exploits. Always use your anti-malware products to examine new files before opening them to delete the '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware and any associated threats.

With Trojans spreading throughout such different areas of the world as South America, North America, Europe and the Middle East, the '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware is just another data point to show that your location confers no protection from threatening software. Future business operations still will need to maintain vigilance around known infection vectors to keep con artists like the '.zXz File Extension' Ransomware's operators from profiting off of their carelessness.

'.zXz File Extension' Ransomware

Threat Metric

The Last Letters of the Alphabet Getting the Final Say on Your Files

Tossing out the Last Letters You Want to See

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