We’re very sorry that all of your personal files have been encrypted :( But there are good news – they aren’t gone, you still have the opportunity to restore them! Statistically, the lifespan of a hard-drive is anywhere from 3 to 5 years. If you don’t make copies of important information, you could lose everything! Just imagine! In order to receive the program that will decrypt all of your files, you will need to pay a certain amount. But let’s start with something else…

Figure 4 - "We are not lying"

Figure 5 - Ransomware cost

Figure 6 - Where to pay

Figure 7- Last but not least: how to buy Bitcoins

In previous versions of Maktub, you could decrypt 1 file for free, however, with the current rebranding, this option has disappeared. Since the ransomware has rebranded, we'll name it "Iron" or "Iron ransomware", due to the name of the decrypter, IronUnlocker.

 Iron encrypts a whopping total of 374 extensions, these are as follows:

.001, .1cd, .3fr, .8ba, .8bc, .8be, .8bf, .8bi8, .8bl, .8bs, .8bx, .8by, .8li, .DayZProfile, .abk, .ade, .adpb, .adr, .aip, .amxx, .ape, .api, .apk, .arch00, .aro, .arw, .asa, .ascx, .ashx, .asmx, .asp, .asr, .asset, .bar, .bay, .bc6, .bc7, .bi8, .bic, .big, .bin, .bkf, .bkp, .blob, .blp, .bml, .bp2, .bp3, .bpl, .bsa, .bsp, .cab, .cap, .cas, .ccd, .cch, .cer, .cfg, .cfr, .cgf, .chk, .class, .clr, .cms, .cod, .col, .con, .cpp, .cr2, .crt, .crw, .csi, .cso, .css, .csv, .ctt, .cty, .cwf, .d3dbsp, .dal, .dap, .das, .db0, .dbb, .dbf, .dbx, .dcp, .dcr, .dcu, .ddc, .ddcx, .dem, .der, .desc, .dev, .dex, .dic, .dif, .dii, .disk, .dmg, .dmp, .dob, .dox, .dpk, .dpl, .dpr, .dsk, .dsp, .dvd, .dxg, .elf, .epk, .eql, .erf, .esm, .f90, .fcd, .fla, .flp, .for, .forge, .fos, .fpk, .fpp, .fsh, .gam, .gdb, .gho, .grf, .h3m, .h4r, .hkdb, .hkx, .hplg, .htm, .html, .hvpl, .ibank, .icxs, .img, .indd, .ipa, .iso, .isu, .isz, .itdb, .itl, .itm, .iwd, .iwi, .jar, .jav, .java, .jpe, .kdc, .kmz, .layout, .lbf, .lbi, .lcd, .lcf, .ldb, .ldf, .lgp, .litemod, .lng, .lrf, .ltm, .ltx, .lvl, .m3u, .m4a, .map, .mbx, .mcd, .mcgame, .mcmeta, .md0, .md1, .md2, .md3, .mdb, .mdbackup, .mddata, .mdf, .mdl, .mdn, .mds, .mef, .menu, .mm6, .mm7, .mm8, .moz, .mpq, .mpqge, .mrwref, .mxp, .ncf, .nds, .nrg, .nri, .nrw, .ntl, .odb, .odf, .odp, .ods, .odt, .orf, .owl, .oxt, .p12, .p7b, .p7c, .pab, .pbp, .pef, .pem, .pfx, .pkb, .pkh, .pkpass, .plc, .pli, .pot, .potm, .potx, .ppf, .ppsm, .pptm, .prc, .prt, .psa, .pst, .ptx, .pwf, .pxp, .qbb, .qdf, .qel, .qic, .qpx, .qtr, .r3d, .raf, .re4, .res, .rgn, .rgss3a, .rim, .rofl, .rrt, .rsrc, .rsw, .rte, .rw2, .rwl, .sad, .sav, .sc2save, .scm, .scx, .sdb, .sdc, .sds, .sdt, .shw, .sid, .sidd, .sidn, .sie, .sis, .slm, .slt, .snp, .snx, .spr, .sql, .sr2, .srf, .srw, .std, .stt, .sud, .sum, .svg, .svr, .swd, .syncdb, .t01, .t03, .t05, .t12, .t13, .tar.gz, .tax, .tcx, .thmx, .tlz, .tor, .torrent, .tpu, .tpx, .ttarch2, .tur, .txd, .txf, .uax, .udf, .umx, .unity3d, .unr, .uop, .upk, .upoi, .url, .usa, .usx, .ut2, .ut3, .utc, .utx, .uvx, .uxx, .vcd, .vdf, .ver, .vfs0, .vhd, .vmf, .vmt, .vpk, .vpp_pc, .vsi, .vtf, .w3g, .w3x, .wad, .war, .wb2, .wdgt, .wks, .wmdb, .wmo, .wotreplay, .wpd, .wpl, .wps, .wtd, .wtf, .x3f, .xla, .xlam, .xlc, .xlk, .xll, .xlm, .xlr, .xlsb, .xltx, .xlv, .xlwx, .xpi, .xpt, .yab, .yps, .z02, .z04, .zap, .zipx, .zoo, .ztmp

Iron doesn't spare gamers, as it will also encrypt Steam files (.vdf), World of Tanks replays (.wotreplay). DayZ (.DayZProfile), and possibly others.

Folders containing the following words are exempt from encryption:

Windows, windows, Microsoft, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Temp, Local, LocalLow, $Recycle.bin, boot, i386, st_v2, intel, recycle, 360rec, 360sec, 360sand, internet explorer, msbuild

Interestingly enough, 360sec, 360rec, and 360sand is developed by Qihoo 360, an internet security company based in China, and is an antivirus (360 Total Security is one example).  This, as well as the fact that the Iron ransomware also includes resources in Chinese Simplified, alludes this variant may be developed by a Chinese speaker.

The ransomware will additionally delete the original files after encryption, and will also empty the recycle bin. It does not remove Shadow Volume Copies or Restore Points.

Iron embeds a public RSA key as follows:

-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
MIGJAoGBAIOYf0KqEOGaxdLmMLypMyZ1q/K+r6DuCdYpwZfs0EPug3ye7UjZa0QMOP5/OySr
l/uBJtkmEghEtUEo/zfcBJ7332O1ytJ7/ebIUv+ZcN1Rlswzdv7uZxYRC8u1HvrgBvAz4Atb
zx+FbFVqLB0gGixYTqbjqANq21AR6r91+oJtAgMBAAE=
-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----

The Iron ransomware will determine the user's WAN IP and also send a POST request to its C2 server, http://y5mogzal2w25p6bn[.]ml.

Figure 8 - Traffic

It appears Iron will create a new, random GUID, and use it as a mutex, in order to not infect the machine twice. The following values will be sent to the C2:

Iron will additionally save certain values, such as the GUID, in HKCU\Software\CryptoA:

Figure 9 - Registry values (click to enhance)

Encrypted files will have the .encry extension appended. It is likely not possible to restore data.

Conclusion

Take note of ID ransomware, if a decryptor should ever become available. Additionally, it may identify other families of ransomware if you are ever affected. Another service to take note of in this regard is NoMoreRansom.

For preventing ransomware, have a look here: