Ransom.DeathRansom

Short bio

Ransom.DeathRansom is Malwarebytes’ detection name for a family of ransomware that is also known as HelloKitty ransomware.

Type and source of infection

Ransomware is a category of malware that holds files or systems hostage for ransom. When encrypting files, an AES key is created for each file. The ransomware will then encrypt the AES key and the original filename with the public RSA encryption key and append it to the encrypted file. Ransom.DeathRansom is very targeted and personalized. Every victim gets their own ransom note and Tor URL that contains a simple chat interface to talk to the threat actors.

Aftermath

Because of the targeted nature of this ransomware, it is advised to do a full network scan to find any backdoors or other tools that the threat actors may have left behind, and which may enable them to regain access to the network.

Protection

Malwarebytes blocks Ransom.DeathRansom

Home remediation

Malwarebytes can detect and remove Ransom.Megacortex without further user interaction.

1. Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop.
2. Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
3. When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
4. Click on the Get started button.
5. Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
6. Click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
7. Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.

Take note, however, that removing this ransomware does not decrypt your files. You can only get your files back from backups you made before the infection happened.

Business remediation

How to remove Ransom.DeathRansom with the Malwarebytes Nebula console

You can use the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Nebula console to scan endpoints.

Nebula endpoint tasks menu

Choose the Scan + Quarantine option. Afterwards you can check the Detections page to see which threats were found.

On the Quarantine page you can see which threats were quarantined and restore them if necessary. All component/technology detections are passed to the remediation engine for complete removal from infected systems. This industry leading technology uses patented techniques in identifying all cohorts or associated files for a single threat and removes them all together to prevent malware from resuscitating itself. If you are using Malwarebytes Ransomware Rollback technology, it allows you to wind back the clock to negate the impact of ransomware by leveraging just-in-time backups.