File shredder malware spitefully deletes files and celebrates

The SonicWall Capture Labs Threat Research Team have recently come across malware that appears to be targeting the Minecraft gaming community.  Rather than encrypting files and holding them ransom for a fee, the aim of the malware is to simply delete files from the system without any possibility of recovery.

Infection Cycle:

The origin of the file is an attachment hosted on discordapp.com:

hxxps://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/548593284985913388/548622096075325441/The_power_of_hentai.exe

The link is still live at the time of writing.

Upon execution the malware iterates through files on the system and overwrites them with the following text file:

It creates %SystemDrive%\memes\Idiot.exe [Detected as: GAV: Johnnie.HT (Trojan)] and executes it.

Idiot.exe downloads a gif file from the following link:

hxxps://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/548593284985913388/548621341654515783/despacito.gif

It then causes the following windows to pop up in a random fashion showing the gif above of an animated figure dancing in celebration:

The text file leads one to believe that the malware is aimed at a particular group of people in the Minecraft gaming community.  Strings for “Minecraft” can also be seen throughout the executable file:

SonicWALL Capture Labs provides protection against this threat via the following signatures:

• GAV: Johnnie.HT (Trojan)
• GAV: KillFiles.HT (Trojan)

Security News

The SonicWall Capture Labs Threat Research Team gathers, analyzes and vets cross-vector threat information from the SonicWall Capture Threat network, consisting of global devices and resources, including more than 1 million security sensors in nearly 200 countries and territories. The research team identifies, analyzes, and mitigates critical vulnerabilities and malware daily through in-depth research, which drives protection for all SonicWall customers. In addition to safeguarding networks globally, the research team supports the larger threat intelligence community by releasing weekly deep technical analyses of the most critical threats to small businesses, providing critical knowledge that defenders need to protect their networks.