Stinger Ransomware

Posted: March 20, 2018

Threat Metric

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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.

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% 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:	2/10
Infected PCs:	91

First Seen:	January 19, 2025
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Stinger Ransomware is a file-locker Trojan that blocks your opening of different media kinds, including documents and pictures, with the intention of collecting ransoms for its unlocking service. While malware experts always suggest keeping backups that reduce any harm from attacks by threats of this category, users also may contact an experienced cyber-security specialist for decryption help that could restore their files. Most anti-malware products are eliminating the Stinger Ransomware as a threat by default, without any further issues.

Feeling the Sting of Bad ASCII Art

A new type of file-locking threat is observable in the wild, with no evidence of a relationship to growing families like the free Hidden Tear or the RaaS-focused Globe Ransomware. Whether the Stinger Ransomware's administrators are running it with a portion of the profits going to its programmer or the Trojan is an entirely independent program, this threat is deploying with full-fledged features oriented towards blocking data for money. Malware experts can't identify its currently in-use infection techniques, although the Stinger Ransomware only runs on Windows software-compatible systems.

The Stinger Ransomware's executable is, like those of most, file-locking threats, under a megabyte, and uses an initial Mutex registration for preventing multiple installations and running instances. Its payload uses an encryption attack that malware experts estimate as basing itself off of AES-128, AES-192, or AES-256, which converts every file it targets into a non-opening, enciphered equivalent. The formats having confirmation for this attack include DOC and PDF documents, MP3 audio and JPG and PNG images. No evidence is available for the Stinger Ransomware's harming the operating system or other files that are integral to your PC's basic operations, but it may delete any default backups or restore points.

Other, traditional features that malware experts are citing as present within the Stinger Ransomware's payload are as follows:

A simple, extension-appending function adds the superficial format of '.Stinger' to all the filenames of any media that the Stinger Ransomware is blocking.
The Stinger Ransomware also places a TXT file inside of any locations containing the encrypted data. The message inside displays a simple ASCII artwork of a skull and crossbones, a ransom demand for 100 USD, and the threat actor's e-mail address for acquiring the other payment details. the Stinger Ransomware provides translations of its text in several languages, including English, German and French.

The Ointment for a Trojan's Touch on Your Files

The Stinger Ransomware campaign is using unknown infection strategies. Attacks deploying threats in its category can abuse corrupted e-mail content, document macros, brute-force hacks against weak passwords, RDP vulnerabilities, and exploit kits that can load via your Web browser. Installing updates as appropriate, scanning downloads before opening them, and avoiding piracy-related sites and file-sharing networks are meaningful ways of preventing these attacks from occurring.

Encryption is not always reversible, and malware experts recommend against assuming that any media that the Stinger Ransomware locks are recoverable via a free decryption program necessarily. Users should save regular backups to devices that this Trojan can't compromise, such as a cloud or USB storage, instead of allowing the Trojan to extort money after damaging the only copies of their work. However, well over half of most brands of anti-malware products are deleting the Stinger Ransomware before it can encrypt any files.

The Stinger Ransomware seems most likely of being a Trojan with intentions of harming casual PC owners, rather than companies. Whether you're a 'small fry' or a multinational corporation, there's an extortionist, encryption-abusing Trojan for you.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

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