WALAN Ransomware
The WALAN Ransomware is a data-locking Trojan that has recently surfaced the Internet. When cybersecurity experts dissected the WALAN Ransomware, there were no indications that this threat belongs to any of the popular ransomware families.
It is not known with certainty what infection vectors are being used to propagate the WALAN Ransomware. However, there are some speculating that the authors of the WALAN Ransomware may be employing spam email campaigns, faux application updates, and corrupted pirated software as a means of spreading their creation. If the user falls for the trickery of the WALAN Ransomware, they will grant access to their system to the file-encrypting Trojan. Once the WALAN Ransomware infiltrates the PC, it will start scrutinizing it. The purpose of the scan is to locate the files, which will later be encrypted. Then, the WALAN Ransomware will start locking the files targeted.
The WALAN Ransomware applies a ‘.WALAN’ extension at the end of the filename of the locked files. For example, if you had named a file ‘summertime-sunshine.jpg,’ the WALAN Ransomware will alter it to ‘summertime-sunshine.jpg.WALAN’ when the encryption process is through. The next step is the dropping of the ransom note. The name of the ransom note is ‘DECRYPT_INFO.txt’ and is very concise with mere five short rows of text. The authors of the WALAN Ransomware have the audacity to turn to the victim with ‘Hello, dear friend’ after all the havoc they have just wrecked. The attackers do not mention what the ransom fee demanded is but they do provide the user with an email address where they are meant to contact the authors of the threat – ‘racap@qq.com.’
It is always a safe bet to keep your distance from cyber crooks. They rarely deliver on their promises, and it is highly likely that even if you pay them, they will not give you the decryption key you need to unlock your data. Instead, you should download and install a legitimate antivirus software suite and have it wipe the WALAN Ransomware off your computer.
