ZipLocker Ransomware

Posted: May 10, 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:	1,293

First Seen:	May 10, 2017
Last Seen:	October 7, 2021
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The ZipLocker Ransomware is a Trojan that moves your media into a locked ZIP archive to stop you from opening them. Additional text instructions it may drop could ask you to pay money in return for the ZIP file's password. If necessary, recover your work through the other methods recommended in this article after deleting the ZipLocker Ransomware with the help of any good anti-malware program.

Zipping Your Work to Unzip Your Wallet

While most file-locking threats exploit encryption directly, others use more roundabout or simple means of holding digital content up for ransom. One of the lesser-used strategies malware experts see with differing Trojan campaigns, is abusing compression utilities like WinRAR and WinZip. While the symptoms of such a payload are slightly different from a standard encryption attack, the technique still allows Trojans like the ZipLocker Ransomware to hold content hostage for an indefinite amount of time.

Potentially due to not being marketed as a RaaS product, the ZipLocker Ransomware attack fewer data types than other file-encrypting threats on the black market. It locks PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, JPG pictures, Word documents, MP3s, and a handful of other formats. Rather than encoding the files directly, the ZipLocker Ransomware moves all the media into a newly-created ZIP archive that it locks with a password.

The ZipLocker Ransomware then drops a text file that malware experts anticipate of including ransom payment instructions, in future versions. According to the acquired samples so far, the Trojan seems to be in mid-development and has no information on how to pay to recover your files.

The Locker that's Simpler to Open than You'd Think

The ZipLocker Ransomware isn't a very sophisticated threat, and the majority of its code has already undergone analysis. Malware experts can verify the Trojan's using a preset password, rather than a custom-generated one, which could allow victims to retrieve their media from the ZIP archive. The Trojan's current password is 'Destroy,' although past iterations of a related Trojan use 'ddd123456.' This close ancestor also utilized fraudulent International Police Association (IPA) alerts, but no similar symptoms have connections to the ZipLocker Ransomware.

This Trojan's payload blocks a carefully selected handful of widely-used formats primarily, including ones associated with Microsoft Office work. Since future revisions could change the archive's password, malware experts recommend keeping backups that can eliminate the chance of suffering long-term data loss. Most anti-malware products armed with updated databases also should identify and remove the ZipLocker Ransomware, depriving it of an opportunity to lock your files.

Trojan attacks needn't always be highly advanced. Although most programmers could create a file-encrypting threat like the ZipLocker Ransomware in a matter of minutes, it still is representative of the potential dangers to anyone who assumes their files are inviolate.

ZipLocker Ransomware

Threat Metric

Zipping Your Work to Unzip Your Wallet

The Locker that's Simpler to Open than You'd Think

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