Experts also cracked the CryptXXX ransomware 2.0

Security Experts at Kaspersky have updated their decryption tool to adapt to the second version of CryptXXX ransomware in the RannohDecryptor 1.9.1.0.

A couple of hours ago I published an interesting post the summarizes the ransomware activities in the last week, and unfortunately, this kind of malware is becoming even more popular in the criminal underground.

A few weeks ago a new threat appeared in the wild, it is the CryptXXX ransomware that was first spotted by the experts from Proofpoint in April. Researchers at ProofPoint discovered a number of compromised websites hosting the Angler exploit kit that were abused by crooks to serve the CryptXXX ransomware and infect Windows machines.

The CryptXXX ransomware has the ability to encrypt local files and any other document present on every connected data storage a short time after the PC has been infected. The threat also steals Bitcoins from the victim’s machines.

The malware authors use the delay in order to make harder for victims the identifications of the malicious website used to compromise their machines.

The files are encrypted with RSA4096 encryption and the CryptXXX ransomware demands the payment of a $500 ransom in bitcoins for decrypting the data back.

Like other ransomware, CryptXXX instructs victims about the payment process, it drops an image on the desktop containing the instructions to download the Tor browser and access an Onion service containing the instructions.

In April, experts at Kaspersky cracked the CryptXXX ransomware and released the RannohDecryptor utility, that was initially designed to recover files encrypted by the Rannoh ransomware.

A few days ago, the researchers from ProofPoint discovered that the CryptXXX ransomware had evolved making ineffective the RannohDecryptor.

In response, the experts from Kaspersky Lab have updated the decryption tool to defeat the second variant the CryptXXX ransomware, they released the RannohDecryptor tool version 1.9.1.0.

Victims of the new strain of the CryptXXX ransomware doesn’t need original copies to decrypt the file.

Below some notes published by the experts:

1. We support decryption of about 40 popular file formats, including documents, archives, images, etc. Unfortunately, there is no possibility to decrypt any arbitrary file format.

2. Decryption may take some time. Generally, the 1st file gets decrypted within several minutes, and all subsequent files in a matter of seconds (each). In the worst case every file will take several minutes. The utility notifies the user prior to start with the following message:

3. Original copy is not needed for Cryptxxx v2.

While this tool will help those infected decrypt their .crypt files, we know that criminals will always look to evolve to stop workarounds from good guys in cybersecurity. It is an unfortunate reality in the current world we live in. But fear not, we won’t rest and will stay vigilant to protect you.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – CryptXXX ransomware , cybercrime)