Qsayebk Ransomware

The Qsayebk Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that can stop files from opening without the user's permission by encrypting their data. As part of Snatch Ransomware's family, it bears all of the hallmark symptoms, such as appending extensions with its random alphabet strings and creating text ransom notes with a recovery demonstration. Users with appropriate backups can restore their work, regardless, and should let trusted brands of security products remove the Qsayebk Ransomware from their PCs.

Cyber-Snatchers will not Stop Yanking Away Digital Media

With its last variant back in the tail-end of 2020, the Snatch Ransomware isn't an unanticipated entrant into the threat landscape for the new year. Already, it has another successor to the Nsemad Ransomware legacy: the Qsayebk Ransomware, which shows the usual symptoms and behavior of its kind. Malware experts can confirm samples, but not its distribution exploits, which may or may not use third-party threat actors.

The affiliate system that the Snatch Ransomware family's group of hackers advertises on the Dark Web adds more complexity to the Qsayebk Ransomware's circulation. However, its payload is long-analyzed and has no surprises in store for readers who know of previous efforts, like the Gcahvv Ransomware, the Hceem Ransomware, or the Cndqmi Ransomware. As usual, the Trojan's name is from a randomly-chosen string of characters – the extension to the files that it takes hostage.

The Qsayebk Ransomware encrypts media files (some examples with current samples include MOV movies, RTF documents, and JPEG pictures) so that they can't open before it adds the classic extension without removing the first one. The file-locking Trojan is compatible with most Windows versions, although its executable size can be heftier than usual, at just under four megabytes. In comparison, most Trojans of this category, including those of the popular Ransomware-as-a-Services, are less than two.

Where the Ransom Half of a File-Snatching Operation Comes into Play

Victims of the Qsayebk Ransomware campaign can identify the Trojan's ransom note as a variant of the traditional template for Snatch Ransomware's family. The English instructions provide general warnings to victims and several e-mails for commencing with negotiations, AKA, paying a ransom for the attacker's file-unlocking help. Although paying is inadvisable, users might find some use in its free demo, which offers decryption or unlocking for up to three unimportant files.

With the Snatch Ransomware in competition with multiple, additional families of Trojans that block media, Windows users should invest in protecting their files long before infections happen. For optimal safety, malware researchers suggest keeping a backup on a detachable, non-network-connected device or a password-protected server, such as a cloud service. Most file-locking Trojans, even 'freeware' ones, will delete local backups and Restore Points and some samples also target unprotected NAS (network-attached storage).

The greatest weakness of these threats lies in their poor obfuscation and protection against standard security solutions. Most dedicated PC security programs will block and remove the Qsayebk Ransomware even though it's a new update to a relatively small-size family.

Unfortunately, malware experts wouldn't bet against more updates to the Qsayebk Ransomware's family over the rest of the year. Users who forget their files' value might end up counting it out to snatchers in cryptocurrency if they lack other recovery options.