Geek's Advice

FOPA ransomware is a new threatening computer virus that encrypts your files

FOPA ransomware virus is the latest malicious file-encrypting malware to emerge from the dreaded STOP/DJVU ransomware group. This highly destructive virus functions by attacking and encrypting every file contained in any computer it infects and also appending them with .fopa extensions to each of them respectively. E.g. a file that was originally saved as 1.jpg appears as 1.jpg.fopa, document.pdf becomes document.pdf.fopa and so on. During the cyber-attack, certain ransom notes known as _readme.txt will also be dropped in all the folders. The _readme.txt is more or less a notification from those behind the cyber-attack informing the victim about what just happened and why it is necessary for them to pay ransom fee in exchange for FOPA decryption tool.

They will further clarify that FOPA ransomware virus has succeeded in encrypting their entire files and not just limited to documents alone but also pictures and every other data that may be of importance to them. Also, based on the fact that very strong encryption key was used, they will claim that the only way out would be to pay ransom to the cybercriminals so they could decrypt the files for them. The notification will also contain two email addresses (support@mailtemp.ch, supportsys@airmail.cc) which they hope to communicate with the victim.

Also included in the note are prices for the decryption services and terms associated with the payment of ransom. They will assert that paying the ransom ASAP is crucial if the victim intends to benefit from their discount. Therefore, if they can pay within 3 days or 72 hours of being notified, they will be able to leverage their 50% discount which means they would now pay $490 instead of the normal $980 ransom fee. However, if they fail to meet up with the deadline, only the 100% ransom payment would be acceptable.

However, should the victim go-ahead to contact them, the cybercriminals will give more conditions by stating that payment can only be made by purchasing cryptocurrency valued at the same figure with the ransom fee and transfer same to their personal wallet address. The obvious reason why they often chose such medium of payment is because it offers them anonymity and prevents any chance of being tracked down and arrested by law enforcement agents. In order to assure the victim that they’re capable of restoring their files, they may request for parts of the encrypted files to be sent to them for test decryption but will also warn that such part must contain any information that could be perceived as important to the victim.

Our cybersecurity experts’ advice that victims should always follow the FBI’s recommendation in times like this and it clearly says NO TO RANSOM PAYMENT. Different reasons have been given for this verdict but here are the main ones:

• Paying ransom to cybercriminals does not guarantee they will restore the encrypted files.
• By making such huge funds available to them, victims will only end up encouraging them to continue in their criminal activities since they would find it lucrative.
• More funds in the hands of cybercriminals will enable them to employ more hands and increase their capacity to do more harm.

Worse still, this ransomware is known for dropping other information-stealing Trojans in the likes of VIDAR and AZORULT. These Trojans would wreak further havoc on the already compromised computer by stealing sensitive information such as banking details, software login credentials, browsing history, passwords, and cryptocurrency wallets among others. The loss of such vital details could lead to further fraudulent acts like blackmailing and robbery.

For those that were unfortunate to fall victim to these variants of STOP/DJVU ransomware, you’re hereby advised to remove FOPA ransomware virus as quickly as possible to avoid further damage. To do that effectively, you will need to set up your computer set in Safe Mode with Networking before activating any genuine antivirus on it. The importance of using only genuine antivirus cannot be overemphasized to ensure the virus is completely removed. If you do not know which antivirus would be perfect, then we recommend INTEGO Antivirus because it has been ascertained by us to be very reliable. In addition to that, you should also consider downloading RESTORO to repair Window OS files that were damaged during the ransomware attack.

Ransomware Summary

REMOVE MALWARE & REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE

Ransomware Distribution Techniques You Should Avoid

The most common method used by cybercriminals in spreading STOP/DJVU ransomware variants such as FOPA virus is by uploading malicious software contents in online torrent platforms. They would hide malware in pirated software contents such as the so-called “cracks” and key generators which they use as baits in luring their victims. Reports have shown that victims usually complain of ransomware attacks after downloading certain software copies. The most common ones often uploaded to online torrent libraries are listed below, in no particular order:

• AutoCad;
• Adobe Photoshop;
• Adobe Illustrator;
• Cubase;
• Corel Draw;
• Tenorshare 4ukey;
• VMware Workstation;
• Fifa 20;
• Opera browser;
• League of Legends;
• Internet Download Manager;
• KMSPico (illegal Windows activation tool).

Those that are involved in such risky activities are hereby advised to desist from doing so henceforth to avoid becoming a victim of ransomware attack. It is never a smart idea to be making use of software gotten from online torrents because they’re Greek gifts. Also note that downloading copyrighted software contents illegally is an infringement and is punishable by law based on the existing criminal penalties. On the contrary, it is a lot better to encourage the original software content producers by paying the fee they request. The good thing is that the fees charged by the original content producers are always insignificant when compared to the humongous ransom fees cybercriminals slam on their victims. Moreover, you will not be at risk of losing your precious data to cybercriminals.

Another popular method cybercriminals use is malicious email attachments. In this method, cybercriminals are known to compose highly believable messages that would be accompanied by attachments crafted on platforms like PDF, DOCX and XLS among other similar ones. They make use of these particular ones they allow the download and triggering of payload on diverse external computers.
The problem here is that it can be pretty difficult trying to decipher if a particular email is genuine or being sent by cybercriminals. Why it is so, is because they now use cunning methods to deceive their target audience.

They may present such emails to appear as if they’re coming from friends/family/colleagues or even popular brands like eBay, Amazon, UPS etc. In addition to that, they will also attach files and use compelling names such as Tracking Details, Invoice or Order Summary to hoodwink their victims into opening them. Alternatively, they may even decide to completely obfuscate the actual sender’s email address. Whichever method they use, you’re advised to always apply desecration when opening emails that land in your inbox/spam especially when such email is unsolicited or unexpected.

Lastly, individuals that have become victim already to any of the STOP/DJVU ransomware variants should avoid certain dubious websites that usually claim to provide decryption solutions because such rarely exist. At the moment, only the duo of DiskTuna and Emsisoft has proven to have the capacity to decrypt encrypted files. You can follow the direction shown here on how to make use of them.

More Information about the Infection

If you’ve been wondering about how exactly your computer was compromised following FOPA cyber-attack, then this section would come handy to you. Generally, the first thing the malware does is to establish build.exe or build2.exe executables and also winupdate.exe (which displays a fake Windows notification screen). Afterwards, it then connects to https[:]//api.2ip.ua/geo.json before saving the response in geo.json file. Once it is done with that, it will begin information gathering of details concerning your computer such as its geolocation, time zone, zip code, latitude and longitude, and would save them in its geolocation-related database. Shown in the image below are two examples of the geo.json file.

The virus also seeks to find out more information about the infected computer’s hardware, installed software list and active processes. After the malware gathers such information, it saves it in file called information.txt (shown below).

Then it will move to the next stage by comparing the country code information it extracted from the computer against certain group of countries they designated as encryption-exempted. The countries are: Russian Federation, Kazachstan, Armenia, Tajikistan, Syria, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. If the information indicates positive to any of these countries, they would instantly abort their mission. However, if it passes the geolocation test, the ransomware will then extract online encryption key from their central server and would merge it with the victim’s ID before saving in bowsakkdestx.txt file and also to PersonalID.txt file. You can check the image below to see example of these files.

Peradventure the malware fails to extract any online encryption key that is typically kept in their server; it would automatically go for a hardcoded offline key as an alternative. The striking difference between online and offline key is that while the former is unique to every victim, the latter is uniform to all victims of the same variant of malware. The appearance of t1 characters as suffix to the personal ID is an indication that offline key was used and it raises hope that .fopa files could be decrypted someday. More information about is provided below the article.

The ransomware then commences full data encryption process by scanning all folders and encrypting them with Salsa20 before locking them with RSA-2048 key. While this is going on, more files will be marked with .fopa extension which is known to be used by this 411th STOP/DJVU variant.

Below is a screenshot of _readme.txt ransom note that are typically left in every folder.

The virus then deletes all Volume Shadow Copies using the command prompt as shown below:

^{vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet}

The malware will now blacklist certain domains on the Windows HOSTS file to prevent the victim from getting help online and any attempt by them may bring up DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error message.

Remove FOPA Ransomware Virus and Restore Your Files

As mentioned earlier, it is very important to remove FOPA ransomware virus as quickly as possible from the infected computer. You can use antivirus of your choice, or you can rely on one recommended by our team – INTEGO Antivirus, which we cannot praise enough. You can read its review here.

Once FOPA virus removal was completed using the method highlighted earlier, the following steps should be taken as recommended by our team:

• Report to the nearest law enforcement agency.
• Restore lost data using any available backup device.
• Seek for possible ways to decrypt STOP/DJVU encrypted files.
• Change all passwords used on the computer without further delay.
• Download RESTORO for finalizing the computer cleanse and repairing virus-damaged Windows OS files.

However, always remember that being proactive and avoiding the risk factors is always the best way to avoid cyber-attack.

OUR GEEKS RECOMMEND

Our team recommends a two-step rescue plan to remove ransomware and other remaining malware from your computer, plus repair caused virus damage to the system:

STEP 1. REMOVE AUTOMATICALLY WITH ROBUST ANTIVIRUS

REMOVE & PROTECT WITH INTEGO

Get INTEGO ANTIVIRUS for Windows to remove ransomware, Trojans, adware and other spyware and malware variants and protect your PC and network drives 24/7.. This VB100-certified security software uses state-of-art technology to provide protection against ransomware, Zero-Day attacks and advanced threats, Intego Web Shield blocks dangerous websites, phishing attacks, malicious downloads and installation of potentially unwanted programs.

Use INTEGO Antivirus to remove detected threats from your computer.

Read full review here.

STEP 2. REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER

DOWNLOAD RESTORO

RESTORO provides a free scan that helps to identify hardware, security and stability issues and presents a comprehensive report which can help you to locate and fix detected issues manually. It is a great PC repair software to use after you remove malware with professional antivirus. The full version of software will fix detected issues and repair virus damage caused to your Windows OS files automatically.

RESTORO uses AVIRA scanning engine to detect existing spyware and malware. If any are found, the software will eliminate them.

Read full review here.

GeeksAdvice.com editors select recommended products based on their effectiveness. We may earn a commission from affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Norbert Webb

Norbert Webb is the head of Geek’s Advice team. He is the chief editor of the website who controls the quality of content published. The man also loves reading cybersecurity news, testing new software and sharing his insights on them. Norbert says that following his passion for information technology was one of the best decisions he has ever made. “I don’t feel like working while I’m doing something I love.” However, the geek has other interests, such as snowboarding and traveling.