Viruses

Sheeva is a recently-discovered ransomware infection that targets Windows systems to encrypt potentially important data and demand payment from victims for its decryption. While executing the virus system on our machine, Sheeva encrypted mostly business-related files which involved accounting, finance, and database information. It also renamed each file according to this pattern id[victim's_ID].[Sheeva@onionmail.org].[original_filename].sheeva. For instance, a file named 1.xlsx was renamed to id[xmrJ9Lve].[Sheeva@onionmail.org].1.xlsx.sheeva and dropped its original icon. After this, the ransomware infection created a text file named sheeva.txt to feature decryption instructions. Cybercriminals say that victims will have to pay some amount of money (unspecified) in Bitcoins to retrieve unique decryption tools. For this, users are instructed to contact swindlers using either Sheeva@onionmail.org or Sheeva@cyberfear.com e-mail addresses and also include their personally-generated ID. It is also allowed to send two files (under 5 MB) and get them decrypted for free. Many cybercriminals use this trick to show their decryption abilities and also motivate victims into further collaboration with them. Since Sheeva Ransomware targets business-related data, it is reasonable to assume that its scope narrows down to corporate rather than home users. This means the further announced price for decryption may be quite high and shy many victims away from decryption. Unfortunately, unless there are serious bugs and underdevelopment inside a ransomware virus, manual decryption without the help of extortionists is almost impossible.

Checkmate is a new ransomware infection that encrypts large volumes of office data and demands victims to pay 15,000 USD for its decryption. The virus uses secure algorithms to encipher important pieces of data (e.g., documents, tables, databases, photos, etc.). During this process, all affected files get visually changed with the .checkmate extension. For instance, a file named 1.xlsx will change to 1.xlsx.checkmate and reset its original icon to blank. As a result, the data will become no longer accessible. Lastly, developers create a text note called !CHECKMATE_DECRYPTION_README.txt to explain how files can be decrypted. The text note states how many files have been encrypted and what can be done to reclaim them. As mentioned above, extortionists require victims to pay an equivalent of 15,000 USD in Bitcoin to their crypto wallet address. Additionally, swindlers also offer to try free decryption - by sending 3 encrypted files (no more than 15 MB each) through the Telegram Messenger. They will afterwards supply the victim with free decrypted samples and provide the wallet address for the ransom payment. After transferring money, cybercriminals promise to respond back with decryption tools to unlock access to data. Unfortunately, at the moment of writing this article, there are no third-party tools that could allow free decryption without the direct help of cybercriminals. Means of encryption used by ransomware are usually very strong, making independent tools oftentimes useless with regard to decryption.

Recently discovered by cybersecurity researchers at MalwareHunterTeam and Cyble, Hydra has developed a new banking trojan variant designed to infect Android devices. It mimics itself under the Play Store app called Document Manager, with over 10,000 downloads in total. Users who download this app and allow certain permissions required by it will experience substantial security threats. The trojan was specifically reported targeting the second-biggest German bank, named Commerzbank. It requests more than 20 permissions, which, in case allowed, will let threat actors to do whatever they want with your smartphone - e.g. monitor passwords entered in apps, alter various settings, manage phone calls and SMS messages, lock and unlock the infected device, disable antivirus activity, record camera footage and deploy tons of other malicious tasks aimed at stealing finance-related credentials. It is also possible that other collected data like phone or social media contacts may also be abused for tricking people into downloading fake software that executes infections. The most popular symptoms of trojans running within a smartphone system are lags, moments of freezing, overheating, random opening of websites or apps, and other signs of weird behavior that were not present before. Trojans like Hydra are extremely dangerous, and it is important to stop their malicious action by performing the full-blown deletion. It may be hard to do on your own without relevant knowledge, so we prepared a thorough guide to help you succeed in removing Hydra Banking Trojan from your Android device.

LIZARD and LANDSLIDE are two very similar ransomware infections developed by the same group of extortionists. They both encrypt personal data and create identical text files (#ReadThis.HTA and #ReadThis.TXT) explaining how users can restore access to the restricted data. The two ransomware variants are also identical in how they rename encrypted files with slight differences. Depending on which of the two ransomware affected your system, targetted files will be altered according to [DeathSpicy@yandex.ru][id=victim's_ID]original_filename.LIZARD or [nataliaburduniuc96@gmail.com][id=victim's_ID]original_filename.LANDSLIDE different only in e-mail of cybercriminals and final extension (.LIZARD or .LANDSLIDE) used at the end. After encryption is done, the virus creates text files we mentioned above with identical content. Victims are informed that, in order to decrypt the files, they have to contact swindlers through one of the given e-mail addresses. Cybercriminals say they will set an exact price for decryption to be paid by victims in Bitcoin (BTC). After this, they promise to send the decryption tool that will help affected users unlock the restricted data. In addition to this, cybercriminals offer to send a 100-200 KB size file along with the e-mail message. It will be decrypted for free and returned to victims as proof that ransomware developers are capable of decryption. Although cybercriminals are usually the only figures able to decrypt files completely, many security experts advise against paying the ransom.

If you wonder why you are unable to access your data, then this could be because Mkp Ransomware, Baseus Ransomware or Harmagedon Ransomware attacked your system. These file-encryptors belong to the Makop ransomware group, which has produced a number of similar infections including Mammon, Tomas, Oled, and more. Whilst encrypting all valuable data stored on a PC, this versions of Makop assigns victims' unique ID, cyber criminals' email address, and the new .mkp, .baseus or .harmagedon extensions to highlight the blocked files. For instance, 1.pdf, which was previously safe, will change its name to something like 1.pdf.[10FG67KL].[icq-is-firefox20@ctemplar.com].mkp, 1.pdf.[7C94BE12].[baseus0906@goat.si].baseus or 1.pdf.[90YMH67R].[harmagedon0707@airmail.cc].harmagedon at the end of encryption. Soon after all files end up successfully renamed, the virus goes forward and creates a text file (readme-warning.txt) with ransom instructions.

Pay2Decrypt is a ransomware-type virus that encrypts personal data and blackmails victims into paying the so-called ransom. A ransom is usually some amount of money cybercriminals demand from users for file decryption. Each file encrypted by the virus will appear with the .PAY2DECRYPT extension and a set of random characters. To illustrate, a sample originally named 1.pdf will be changed to 1.pdf.PAY2DECRYPTRLD0f5fRliZtqKrFctuRgH2 resetting its icon as well. After this, users will no longer be able to open and view the encrypted file. Immediately after successful encryption, the ransom creates hundred text files with identical content - Pay2Decrypt1.txt, Pay2Decrypt2.txt, and so forth until Pay2Decrypt100.txt.

Sojusz is the name of a ransomware infection. It belongs to the Makop ransomware family that designs a number of different file encryptors. Sojusz blocks access to data and demands money for its decryption. The research showed it highlights encrypted files by assigning a random string of characters, ustedesfil@safeswiss.com email address, and the .sojusz extension. Latest versions of Sojusz used following extensions: .bec, .nigra, .likeoldboobs, .[BillyHerrington].Gachimuchi, This means a file like 1.pdf will be changed to 1.pdf.[fd4702551a].[ustedesfil@safeswiss.com].sojusz and become no longer accessible. After all targeted files end up encrypted this way, the virus creates a text file called -----README_WARNING-----.txt (later versions created also: !!!HOW_TO_DECRYPT!!!.txt, Horse.txt, README_WARNING_.txt and #HOW_TO_DECRYPT#.txt ransom notes).

Quite recently, hackers found a new Windows vulnerability to aid the penetration of systems with malware. The exploit is inherently related to MSDT (Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool) and allows cybercriminals to perform various actions by deploying commands through the PowerShell console. It was therefore called Follina and assigned this tracker code CVE-2022-30190. According to some reputable experts who researched this problem, the exploit ends up successful once users open malicious Word files. Threat actors use Word’s remote template feature to request an HTML file from a remote web server. Following this, attackers get access to running PowerShell commands to install malware, manipulate system-stored data as well as run other malicious actions. The exploit is also immune to any antivirus protection, ignoring all safety protocols and allowing infections to sneak undetected. Microsoft does work on the exploit solution and promises to roll out a fix update as soon as possible. We thus recommend you constantly check your system for new updates and install them eventually. Before that, we can guide you through the official resolution method suggested by Microsoft. The method is to disable the MSDT URL protocol, which will prevent further risks from being exploited until an update appears.