A number of much less widespread kinds of Bitcoin ransomware are nonetheless in circulation proper now, though most individuals could have by no means heard of those variants. Each sort of malware has its personal quirks, and CryptoFortress is not any totally different in that regard. On high of encrypting recordsdata and asking for cost, CryptoFortress turned out to be a vastly totally different creature.
CryptoFortress Is TorrentLocker With A Twist
The TorrentLocker pressure of Bitcoin ransomware has created many kinds of offspring, but CryptoFortress is likely one of the most original choices within the malware world up to now. Whereas this ransomware represents a cost web page and ransom message almost an identical to TorrentLocker, an infection poses an extra risk to the top person.
The truth is, CryptoFortress was not created by the identical group chargeable for TorrentLocker, as a brand new collective seems to have stolen that malware’s HTML template and CSS recordsdata. Originality just isn’t that tough within the ransomware world, but some individuals desire to place in even much less effort to earn some cash, even whether it is in illegitimate methods.
Beneath the hood, issues are vastly totally different between TorrentLocker and CryptoFortress although. For starters, each kinds of malware are unfold by way of totally different means, as TorrentLocker depends on spam emails, whereas CryptoFortress makes use of an exploit package to contaminate computer systems everywhere in the world.
Moreover, CryptoFortress has the ransomware included within the malware executable itself, as there is no such thing as a management server akin to introduced by TorrentLocker. Each options use several types of cryptographic libraries (Microsoft CryptoAPI versus LibTomCrypt), and the CryptoFortress ransom quantity is fastened at one Bitcoin.
Just like the TorrentLocker ransomware, CryptoFortress additionally deleted any shadow volumes customers might need saved on their units. This prevents accessing recordsdata by loading a backup of the system onto the pc. Not a really nice scenario, particularly when contemplating how this malware would additionally encrypt recordsdata on community shares.
The top of 2014 was a making an attempt time for laptop customers everywhere in the world, as each CryptoFortress and TorrentLocker had been operating in parallel. A mixture of spam emails and an exploit package put numerous customers in danger, though the variety of infections remained comparatively low, all issues thought-about.
