New ransomware has recently been discovered and this time around it appears that in exchange for the files lost they are asking for $300. Talk about steep!
Just to give you an idea of how it goes about hijacking your files, what it does is search your hard drive for files with certain file extensions (except in the “system” or “system32” directories) and zips them up, overwrites the original file, then deletes it thereby leaving just the password-protected zip file in your system. Some of the common file types it searches for include .DOC, .pdf, .jpg, .xml, .txt, .zip and .rar.
After this, it creates a text file containing instructions on how to set up payment to get your files back. Some people would refer to it as the “Ransom Note”.
We have not yet been able to determine how this has been spreading and we haven’t received infection reports It doesn’t seem to pose an immediate threat. Trend Micro detects this as TROJ_CRYZIP.A
It seems that the password for the encrypted files can actually be found inside the body of the dll file AND it can be viewed in plain sight.. they didn’t bother to encrypt it. The password to the encrypted files is:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft Visual StudioVC98
This string can be found in most programs compiled using Visual C++ 6, so the chances of it being overlooked by anyone searching for the password inside the dll file is rather high.
