Jawwi.nl - Computer Beveiligings Informatie

RansomWare

 

Wat is RansomWare?

Relatively unknown, in this virtual world, is the term Ransomware.
Ransomware is malware, usually a trojan, that litterally kipnappes a computer and demands for a Ransom.
After ransomware has installed itself on a computer, it will display a message, telling that the computer has been taken over and that the only way to release it, is to meet the demand for some sort of  ransom.
Usually this means a transfer of a certain amount of money to a online bank-account.
Failing to do so, the message says, will result in severe penalties, like deleting files (sometimes in a certain time-interval, to enforce the ransom-demands) or just redering the operating system useless.
Some ransomware-variants will spawn itself thru-out the system, trying to make sure that removal is difficult. Others just do their job and remove themselves.

 

Trojan.Aids; de eerste ransomware-trojan

aliases: Aids Info Disk, PC Cyborg Trojan

Trojan Aids, made in 1989 by Dr. Joseph Popp, was the first ransomware-trojan.
It was distributed on a diskette, called the AIDS Information Introductory Diskette, wich was spread by mail from a mailing-list of Dr. Popp.
On execution, the trojan installed itself on the computer and replaced the autoexec.bat. The trojan's autoexec.bat counted the number of times that the computer booted. When the count reached 90, the trojan renamed all the files on the computer, using a specially designed encryption-table, and demanded the payment of US$ 378 for renewal of the license, to be paid to the PC Cyborg Corporation.
(After his arrest, for 11 counts of  blackmailing, Dr. Popp claimed that the money was ment for Aids-research (hence the name of the trojan).)
There was at least one variant made, wich did not wait, but renamed all the files on the computer upon the next boot.

Trojan.Aids was first identified and analysed by Jim Bates.
There are 2 reliable removal-tools, specially designed for trojan.Aids; AidsOut, wich removes the trojan, and ClearAid, wich reverses the encryption.

 

Trojan.GPCoder

aliases: PGPcoder, GPCode

This is a general description of the ransomware-trojan GPCoder. Known variants: A, AC, AD, AE, AF, AG, B, F
The second Ransomware-trojan was Pgcoder, launched as trojanGPCoder.B in december 2004, wich encrypts data-files with the extentions .xls, .doc, .txt, .rtf, .zip, .rar, .dbf, .htm, .html, .jpg, .db, .db1, .db2, .asc and .pgp
It then creates a text-file, in the folders where it has hijacked files, called ATTENTION!!!.txt. This file contains the following text:
                Some files are coded.
                To buy decoder mail: n781567@yahoo.com
                with subject: PGPcoder 000000000032

When PGCoder has encrypted all the files with the pre-determined extentions, it removes itself from registry, disk and memory.

 

Trojan.Cryzip

aliases: Zippo

Trojan.Cryzip was launched in the beginning of March 2006.
Cryzip uses a commercial Zip-library to store hijacked files in a password-protected ZIP-File.
Upon execution, the trojan searches all folders, exept System- and System32-folders, for files with the extention .arh, .asm, .arj, .bas, .cdr, .cgi, .chm, .cpp, .db1, .db2, .dbf, .dbt, .dbx, .doc, .dpr, .dsw, .frm, .frt, .frx, .gtd, .gzip, .jpg, .key, .kwm, .lst, .man, .mdb, .mmf, .old, .p12, .pas, .pak, .pdf, .pgp, .pwl, .pwm, .rar, .rtf, .safe, .tar, .txt, .xls, .xml and .zip, wich it will store in a ZIP-file called
[original-file-name-&-extention]_CRYPT_.ZIP and after wich it will delete the original.
After processing the files in a folder, the trojan also leaves a textfile AUTO_ZIP_REPORT.TXT with the following text:
                OUR E-GOLD ACCOUNT: XXXXXXX         

                INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO GET YUOR FILES BACK
                READ CAREFULLY. IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND, READ AGAIN.

                This is automated report generated by auto archiving software.

                Your computer catched our software while browsing illigal porn
                pages, all your documents, text files, databases was archived
                with long enought password.

                You can not guess the password for your archived files - password
                lenght is more then 10 symbols that makes all password recovery
                programs fail to bruteforce it (guess password by trying all
                possible combinations).

                Do not try to search for a program what encrypted your information - it
                is simply do not exists in your hard disk anymore.
                If you really care about documents and information in encrypted files
                you can pay using electonic currency $300.
                Reporting to police about a case will not help you, they do not know
                password. Reporting somewhere about our e-gold account will not help
                you to restore files. This is your only way to get yours files back.

                ------------------------------

                How to pay to get your information back.

                1. click on this link to open your free e-gold account - the first
            screen is the e-gold "terms and conditions" page. You need to
            agree to these by clicking on the "I AGREE" button on the bottom
            on the page.
                2. On the next page is the sign up form:
             1. "Account name" - here is where you name your account - tip:
                 make it easy to remember (as you will be asked for it) and
                   reasonably short, example, "John's e-gold", "My Money e-gold"
                 or perhaps "Felix" (whatever you like, just make it easy for
                 you to remember it).
             2. "User Name" - here just repeat the account name (from 1 above).
             3. "Point of Contact" - this is where you put our name, address,
                 phone number and email address (any email address can be used
                 here but it is recommended you use your ISP address - not a
                 free hotmail, etc address).
                 It is also recommended your also include a fax number
                 (don't have a fax number? This company offers free fax to email
                 services). Try and make it as easy as possible for e-gold to contact you.
             4. "Passphrase" - this is the most important piece of information
                 connected to any e-gold account. We can not stress enough how
                 important it is that your passphrase is kept safe and secure.
             5. "Turing Number Entry" - type the 6 numbers you see there into the input
                 box below.
             6.  The last step click "Open"

                On the next page it will tell you that your e-gold account number has been
                emailed to you.

                check your email - you can expect to wait up to 5 minutes for your account number
                to arrive. If it does not arrive after 5 minutes then that means the email address
                you supplied was incorrect and you will have to open another new account (go through
                and repeat what you just did above again).

                To buy e-gold to your account please use official exchange services
                http://www.me-gold.com/
                http://www.goldex.net/
                http://usece.com/

                or try to search own way with
                http://gold-pages.net/e-Gold__1MDC__Pecunix_Wizard_Links/Purchase_E-gold/index.html
                http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=buy+e-gold&btnG=Google+Search

                FINALLY when you bought e-gold you have to transfer $300 to our e-gold account.
                In next 24 hours you will recieve $1 back to your account. Transfer details
                of this $1 transfer will have a link to software that will automatically
                unzip all your files back to normal state.

                Next day login to your account https://www.e-gold.com/acct/login.html,
                press History and press submit, you will see LINK TO UNZIP-software.

                ##########################################################################
                Remember you are just $300 away from your files
                ##########################################################################

The E-Gold account-number is picked from a list of numbers in the DLL-file ZIPPO.dll.
In the first version of the Cryzip-trojan, also the text for the message, aswell as the encryption-password are stored in the DLL-file.
The LURHQ Threat Intelligence Group has identified the password as being: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98

On may 22, LurHQ discovered a second variant, wich doesn't have just one possible password, stored in it's DLL-file, but downloads a random password from a list of passwords, on a remote webserver.
Unfortunately, this makes retreaval of the hijacked files almost impossible without meeting the demands of the blackmailer, unless he/she is arrested and reveals the passwords.
There is also a change to retrieve the hijacked files, using a tool like Elcomsoft's Advanced ZIP Password Recovery tool, however to work properly, this tool needs at least one original of the hijacked files.

 

Trojan.Ransom

aliases: Randsom

The next ransomware-variant to see daylight was the trojan Ransom-A.
It is delivered to a computer by e-mail attachment.
Upon infection, Ransom-A will copy itself to %Start Menu%\Startup\ as a hidden file winstart.exe, to make sure it's started every time Windows is started.
Then, it creates the following files:
In %Windows% - svchost.exe, wpd.exe, ShutdownUtility.exe, data3.exe, 009.exe, 008.exe, 007.exe, 006.exe, 005.exe, 004.exe, 002.exe, data2.exe, data4.exe and dat1.bat
And in %System%\oobe\setup\- corpstats.exe
It also creates the following registry-enties:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run cleanup <System>\oobe\setup\corpstats.exe
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx cleanup <System>\oobe\setup\corpstats.exe

May create a temporary file OZ in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ and a registry-entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\OZ Development\Applications. Both seems to be harmless.

After it's settled in, the trojan will display the following message:
                "Deleted files are going to be saved into a hidden directory and replaced during uninstallation."
                "(1) files are being deleted every 30 minutes"

It also shows pornografic material and the following message:
                environment locked
                windows locked

                listen up muthafucka
                is this computer valuable. it better not be.
                is this a business computer. it better not be.
                do you keep important company records or files on this computer.you'd better hope not.
                because there are files scattered all over it tucked away in
                invisible hidden folders undetectable by antivirus sofware
                the only way to remove them and this message is by a CIDN number

                This X.aip will load everytime you start windows scattering more and more copies of iteslf until your computer is fried to a pulp. until then you                 may even noteice other programs missing critical files.

                How to Remove it

                Simple. you must receive a CIDN: number from Western Union

                go to Western union, fill out the grey form labelled "SwiftPay" pay $10.99 as your customer access number enter "4 8 7 0 9 3 0 1 0 1 3 0 8 6 9 7"
                you may sign any name, i.e John Doe.
                and wait for a receipt from the clerk. Look on the top right-hand corner of the receipt for a number that starts with CIDN: i.e CIDN: 203-093-1903
                comback to this computer an enter your CIDN number. The uninstall process will begin.

                note: if you don't pay exactly $10.99 you will generate an invalid CIDN number and be forced to start all over.

                If you have a valid CIDN: Number and have problems uninstalling send a reuqest to
                unlock3713@yahoo.com I will research the problem and if applicable send a alternate CIDN: universal key by email.

The trojan generates multiple processes of itself. If such a process is killed, the trojan displays the following message:
                Yeah, We don't die, We multiply!
                Ctrl+Alt+Del isn't quite working today, is it? I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but
                Crtl+Alt+Del is everyone's S.O.S

 

Trojan.Arhiveus

aliases: Archiveus, MayArchive

The newest kid on the Ransomware-block seems to be Archiveus, discovered on may 6, 2006 ....... and it has a surprise!
Instead of demanding payment of a certain amount of money, the trojan demands that the victim will buy pharmaceutical goods, at a price of Us$ 75 or more, at a Russian online shop.
Another difference with the other Ransomware-variants is, that Arhiveus doesn't encrypt files. It copies files in the My Document-folder into one file, called EncryptedFiles.als, and removes the original. It also creates 2 other files it the My Documents-folder, called Demo.als and INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO GET YOUR FILES BACK.txt
This last one contains the following instructions for the victim to get his/her files back:
                INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO GET YOUR FILES BACK
                READ CAREFULLY. IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND - READ AGAIN.

                This is the automated report generated by auto archiving software.

                Your computer caught our software while browsing illegal porn
                pages, all your documents, text files, databases in the folder
                My Documents was archived with long password.

                You can not guess the password for your archived files - password
                length is more than 30 symbols that makes all password recovery
                programs fail to bruteforce it (guess password by trying all
                possible combinations).

                Do not try to search for a program that encrypted your information - it
                simply does not exist in your hard disk anymore.
                Reporting to police about a case will not help you, they do not know the
                password. Reporting somewhere about our email account will not help
                you to restore files. Moreover, you and other people will lose contact
                with us, and consequently, all the encrypted information.

                WE DO NOT ASK YOU FOR ANY MONEY! We only want to do business with you.
                You can even EARN extra money with us.
                If you really care about the documents and information in encrypted file,
                you should follow the instructions below.
                This is your only way to get your files back and save your time.

                ------------------------------

                How to get your information back.

                1. Follow any link below

                http://[blocked]HealthServices.info/?833F866fe62adAd883cc38bcd6b0Tdaa
                http://[blocked]Products.info/?82Fdf3abfb7Abc9385ed1c26afT6bb6e
                http://[blocked]HealthWorld.info/?12aba12eF79ef8A4bf7f9bd49Tfc6690

                and enter our online pharmacy. Our online pharmacy is the world leader in
                FDA approved medications.

                2. Choose any product you like and buy it.

                3. Send an email with your order id to our email address restoring@[blocked].net
                or restoringfiles@[blocked].com
                The password will be sent to your email address as soon as we verify your
                order id (usually 3-4 hours or shorter) and you will get your information
                in encrypted file back. All the emails with invalid order ids will be ignored.

                ------------------------------

                We do not ask you for any money! We guarantee that you will receive the product
                you buy! You can use it by yourself or even sell and earn extra money because
                all the products in our online pharmacy are discounted!

                We guarantee that you will receive the password for encrypted file as soon as you buy
                any product in our online pharmacy.

                We guarantee that you will be able to restore all the encrypted information and we can
                prove it. Doubleclick on the file Demo.als and enter the following password:
                kw9fjwfielaifuw1u3fw3brue2180w3hfse2
                The encrypted information will be restored in several seconds.
                The file EncryptedFiles.als is encrypted with another password which you will receive
                in the email from us.

                We guarantee that you will never be asked to buy anything in our online pharmacy again.

                We do not want to do you any harm, we do not ask you for money, we only want to
                do business with you.

                ##########################################################################
                Remember you are just three steps away from your files
                ##########################################################################

(The obvious simularity of this message with the message from Cryzip seems to be nothing else then "copiing a good idea" ... the trojans themselves doesn't seem the be related in any way ...)
Luckily, we have LURHQ, wich already have analyzed the trojan.
The decryption-password for EncryptedFiles.als is mf2lro8sw03ufvnsq034jfowr18f3cszc20vmw
The password for demo.als is kw9fjwfielaifuw1u3fw3brue2180w3hfse2

 

Trojan.Sinowal.FY

is a ransomware Trojan from july 2007. Sinowal.FY encrypts users files so that they cannot access them, and demands a ransom for giving them a tool to decrypt the files as well as the decryption key.

On reaching a computer, Sinowal.FY creates a text file containing its demands: if the targeted user doesn't give $300 to the malware writer, they will not be able to retrieve the kidnapped documents.

  • Encrypts all the files with any of the following extentions: 12M, 3DS, 3DX, 4GE, 4GL, 7Z, A, A86, ABC, ACD, ACE, ACT, ADA, ADI, AEX, AF3, AFD, AG4, AI, AIF, AIFC, AIFF, AIN, AIO, AIS, AKF, ALV, AMP, ANS, AP, APA, APO, APP, ARC, ARH, ARJ, ARX, ASC, ASM, ASK, AU, BAK, BAS, BB, BCB, BCP, BDB, BH, BIB, BPR, BSA, BTR, BUP, BWB, BZ, BZ2, C, C86, CAC, CBL, CC, CDB, CDR, CGI, CMD, CNT, COB, COL, CPP, CPT, CRP, CRU, CSC, CSS, CSV, CTX, CVS, CWB, CWK, CXE, CXX, CYP, D, DB, DB0, DB1, DB2, DB3, DB4, DBA, DBB, DBC, DBD, DBE, DBF, DBK, DBM, DBO, DBQ, DBT, DBX, DFM, DJVU, DIC, DIF, DM, DMD, DOC, DOK, DOT, DOX, DSC, DWG, DXF, DXR, EPS, EXP, F, FAS, FAX, FDB, FLA, FLB, FRM, FM, FOX, FRM, FRT, FRX, FSL, GTD, GIF , .GZ, GZIP, H, HA, HH, HJT, HOG, HPP, HTM, HTML, HTX, ICE, ICF, INC, ISH, ISO, JAR, JAD, JAVA, JPG, JPEG, JS, JSP, KEY, KWM, LST, LWP, LZH, LZS, LZW, MA, MAK, MAN, MAQ, MAR, MBX, MDB, MDF, MID, MO, MYD, OBJ, OLD, P12, PAK, PAS, PDF, PEM, PFX, PHP, PHP3, PHP4, PGP, PKR, PL, PM3, PM4, PM5, PM6, PNG, PPT, PPS, PRF, PRX, PS, PSD, PST, PW, PWA, PWL, PWM, PWP, PXL, PY, RAR, RES, RLE, RMR, RND, RTF, SAFE, SAR, SKR, SLN, SWF, SQL, TAR, TBB, TEX, TGA, TGZ, TIF, TIFF, TXT, VB, VP, WPS, XCR, XLS, XML and ZIP.
    These extensions include Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Access databases, text files, JPG pictures, files compressed using WinZip, WinRAR and ARJ, etc.
  • The user will not be able to open those files until they are decrypted. Sinowal.FY instructs users to send a message to an email address so that they can buy the decrypter.
  • It connects to the website http://marti<blocked>.net/pajero, where it stores a record of the infections it has made: computer's name, IP address and infection data and time.
Infection strategy
 
Sinowal.FY creates the following files:
  • NTOS.EXE, in the Windows system directory. This file is a copy of the trojan .
  • ??.TMP in the Windows temporary directory.
    where ?? stands for two random characters.
  • AUDIO.DLL and VIDEO.DLL in the subfolder WSNPOEM, created by itself, of the Windows system directory.
  • READ_ME.TXT. It creates a file like this in each subfolder in which it has encripted any file. This text file contains the following message:
    Hello,
    your files are encrypted with RSA-4096 algorithm
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA).

    You will need at least few years to decrypt these files without our
    software. All your private information for last 3 months were
    collected and sent to us.

    To decrypt your files you need to buy our software. The price is $300.

    To buy our software please contact us at: trista<blocked>lam@gmail.com and provide us
    your personal code -1270430. After successful purchase we will send
    your decrypting tool, and your private information will be deleted
    from our system.

    If you will not contact us until 07/15/2007 your private information
    will be shared and you will lost all your data.

    Glamorous team

Sinowal.FY creates the following entry in the registry:

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion
    WinCode = %encryption key%
    where %encryption key% is a random value and is the reference key of the file encryption.

Sinowal.FY modifies the following entry from the registry :

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon
    UserInit = %sysdir%\userinit.exe
    where %sysdir% is the Windows system directory.
    It changes this entry to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon
    UserInit = %sysdir%\userinit.exe, %sysdir%\ntos.exe
    By modifying this entry, Sinowal.FY ensures that it is run whenever Windows is started.
Means of transmission

Sinowal.FY does not spread automatically using its own means. It needs an attacking user's intervention in order to reach the affected computer. The means of transmission used include, among others, floppy disks, CD-ROMs, email messages with attached files, Internet downloads, FTP, IRC channels, P2P file sharing networks, etc.

Further Details

Sinowal.FYis 40,448 bytes in size.

 

 

 

 

 

ToDo

 

Gpcode.ak

Updated version of the old 2006-verion of the Ransom-trojan.

http://www.doeswhat.com/2008/06/06/your-holiday-snaps-up-for-ransom/