Remove _encrypted Ransomware (Virus Removal Guide)

_encrypted ransomware aims to damage your files

_encrypted is the name of a virus that is categorized as ransomware – it aims to encrypt ordinary user‘s files. Users who experience this infection are usually unable to access personal files. The hackers behind the attack demand a ransom – $1000 to let the victim regain access to his files. The files affected can be identified easily since the virus appends ._encrypted to every file name that has been touched. After this is carried out, a ransom note called README_encrypted.txt is created that contains information regarding this crypto infection.

This guide explains what is the aim of _encrypted file virus and how you can safely eliminate it from your computer system, plus what further steps to take.

README_encrypted.txt contents

The message found in the ransom note is unambiguous, to say the least – victim‘s files have been encrypted and he needs to pay $1000 to regain access to them. To initiate the decryption process, the user needs to contact the cybercriminals behind the attack via a website on the Tor network. The victim is also provided with metadata.bin file that can be found in the user folder. However, at the time this article was written, the website address provided in _encrypted ransom note was blank. This is probably due to the fact that the malware is still in the development stages or released for testing purposes.

No matter the circumstances, it is important that you do not contact the hackers in cases like this. This is due to a couple of reasons. First, paying them money means escalating a problem even more. Since the hackers are completely profit-driven, they will not have the incentive to continue committing cybercrimes if it’s not profitable. Second, hackers simply cannot be trusted. If they see an opportunity to extort you even more (even after making the initial payment), they will definitely use it.

Unfortunately, usually, there is little the victim can do to regain access to his files using outside methods. It might be possible if there are known bugs or flaws that can be exploited in the user‘s favor. Other than that – it is a far stretch to manually retrieve encrypted files without hacker‘s interference. This is due to the fact that _encrypted, like most other types of contemporary ransomware, uses RSA+AES cryptography. To better understand what ransomware is doing to your files, you need to understand the basic principles of cryptography.

Name	_encrypted virus
Type	Ransomware
Ransom note	README_encrypted.txt
Ransom amount	$1000 in Bitcoin
Contact	Via provided Onion website (Tor browser required)
Damage	Makes all files inaccessible by encrypting them. Drops ransom-demanding notes that suggest visiting the provided onion website for further instructions how to pay the ransom.
Detection names	TR/FileCoder.yvkux (Avira), Ransom:Win32/FileCoder.AB!MTB (Microsoft), Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Encoder.klv (Kaspersky), Trojan.GenericKD.44206852 (B) (Emsisoft) see full list on VT
Distribution	Spread via infected downloads (such as software cracks), deceptive email spam or malicious websites.
Removal	Remove ransomware using robust malware removal tool. For virus damage repair, scan with RESTORO.

Effect on your files

RSA is an encryption system that has been created in the 1970s by British intelligence authorities. It was designed to ensure the safe transmission of information. Since then, it is one of the most successful asymmetric encryption systems. Meanwhile, AES cryptography is a system that was created at the start of this century and is still used by the U.S. government to this day. It uses a 4 stage-symmetric encoding system to ensure file safety. 

So, it is quite apparent that the combination of these two military-grade encryption systems means that retrieving files manually or by using some sort of third-party software is just not an option. Using decryption tools from the internet might even cause more extensive damage to your system since they often contain various itself. Having this in mind, there are some things you can do. First, you need to remove _encrypted ransomware and all of its contents from your system. After that, you will be able to restore files from a backup. 

Virus distribution ways

When talking about _encrypted ransomware proliferation methods, we can argue that they are similar to other ransomware viruses. For the most part, they spread through downloads from untrustworthy websites. For example, downloading a crack, keygen, software activation tool, or else, from a Torrent might expose you to a cyberattack. Having this in mind, it is important to realize, that the benefit gained by downloading something illegally might be outweighed by potential damage done to your system. In fact, you should never use untrustworthy downloading websites and file-sharing platforms. 

Another way that is used by the developers of _encrypted virus is malspam campaigns. To put it shortly, this is a social engineering scheme – hackers send thousands of deceitful emails to random internet users. These emails might contain various information – from resumes to business offers or special deals on software. Usually, the information inside these emails urges the user to interact with the contents of it (clicking a link or opening an attachment). Once this is done, the virus tries to breach through the system‘s security.

Although email services are getting better at filtering these kinds of messages into spam folders, you should always pay attention when opening emails and do not interact with any suspicious-looking ones. 

Remove _encrypted ransomware

To ensure your system’s safety you need to remove _encrypted ransomware and all of its associated contents. This is crucial since malware like this could do more extensive damage to your PC – for example, download a AZORULT password stealer. We recommend you use a trustworthy anti-malware software that would be capable of dealing with this kind of task.

After that, you should take all of the necessary actions to make restore your system‘s health. RESTORO is a perfect tool for this kind of task, it will ensure that no virus-associated contents are present in your PC. To remove _encrypted virus follow the steps below:

OUR GEEKS RECOMMEND

Our team recommends removing malware using a professional antivirus software and then using the following tool to repair virus damage to Windows system files:

REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER

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