Geek's Advice

PALQ ransomware uses encryption to prevent you from accessing your own files

PALQ ransomware is a highly dangerous computer virus that is recognized as the 345th variant from STOP/DJVU ransomware family. The sole aim of this malware is to use military-grade encryption algorithm to lock victim’s data stored on a computer and demand a ransom. During the attack, the ransomware marks each file with a supplementary .palq extension. For instance, a file originally named 1.jpg becomes 1.jpg.palq after the cyberattack. On top of that, the virus operators leave a message in every folder in a form of a _readme.txt ransom note, which suggests that paying cyber attackers a ransom is the sole way of obtaining PALQ decryption tool.

The sole aim of PALQ ransomware is to extort victims after illegally locking their files – therefore, after doing their damage to your data, they leave a ransom-demanding _readme.txt note in various computer locations. The message in it says that all documents such as images, videos, documents, databases, project files and other file types have been encrypted with military-grade encryption algorithm. Although not mentioned in the note, the virus uses Salsa20 + RSA-2048 encryption type. The note tells that the victim should rush to write to the attackers via provided email addresses which are manager@mailtemp.ch and supporthelp@airmail.cc to get further instructions on how to pay and decrypt data.

The criminals promise to provide a 50% discount on the initial ransom price which means that the decryption would cost $490 in that case. However, only victims who write to attackers within 72 hours from the initial infection timestamp are eligible for the discount. If delayed any longer, the ransom price will be $980. The criminals only accept virtual currency such as Bitcoin, as it helps to keep the transactions untraceable. If the victim writes to them, they will respond with instructions how to purchase cryptocurrency and on which websites one can do it. The crooks will also provide their wallet address where exact money amount should be transferred.

The ransom note also informs that the attackers can provide a proof that they can decrypt your files. The victim can send one encrypted file for them and receive a decrypted version in return. However, the ransom note mentions that the test file should not contain any valuable information, otherwise the criminals won’t send the original version to the victim. In other words, they do not want to provide the victim with anything that would refrain him/her from paying the ransom.

Cybersecurity professionals from our team recommend you to avoid paying ransoms to cybercriminals. The same is suggested by FBI. Please remember that no matter what the offenders promise you, you cannot trust their words. Their main goal is to convince you to transfer money for them, so after seeing the transaction in their account they can simply move on to harass another victim. Moreover, when computer users pay them, they get the funds to expand their illegal operations by employing more people, distributors and so on. These greedy criminals earn millions by collecting ransoms annually, and such large sums of money is something that attracts other people to join or start such illegal business model. The only way to put an end to ransomware existence is to stop paying up.

Data encryption and encryption isn’t the only trouble caused by these criminals. You should be aware of the fact that STOP/DJVU ransomware variants often download more malware to victim’s computer, typically silent information-stealing Trojans. Two of these Trojans have been observed in STOP/DJVU attacks and they’re named AZORULT and VIDAR. These Trojans have a lengthy list of functionalities, but probably the most worrisome of them is that it allows cybercriminals to execute illegal commands on your computer to steal private data. For example, these threats can be controlled to steal your saved account passwords and history from web browsers, also cryptocurrency wallets, banking details and similar. Needless to say, such information can be easily used to blackmail you and try to swindle even more money from you.

In case your computer was compromised, we strongly recommend you to remove PALQ ransomware virus whenever you can. First of all, we suggest checking if you have an antivirus software and updating its database first. If you do not have one yet, consider using INTEGO Antivirus. You can read its review here. For additional virus damage scan, you may want to download RESTORO, which is designed to repair Windows OS files. Make sure you run the software in Safe Mode with Networking (you can find a guide on how to do it below the article).

Ransomware Summary

REMOVE MALWARE & REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE

How does this ransomware infect computers?

Ransomware variants from STOP/DJVU family, including PALQ virus can be found in torrent downloads containing software cracks, keygens and other tools used to activate full software versions for free. In order to get their hands on premium software versions without paying the license fee, users often download these torrents from several online sources to see which one actually works. This only increases the risk of infecting the computer with multiple malware variants as these downloads rarely come without malicious additions. Moreover, another bad habit that these computer users have is ignoring their security software warnings due to popular misconception that antivirus programs mark anything containing a crack as malware. Although this sometimes can be true, it is better to avoid downloading such files as it simply is a copyright infringement act.

Users infected with STOP/DJVU variants report noticing their files encrypted after downloading torrents for these popular programs and games:

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

Trying to download pirated software copies via peer-to-peer file sharing clients can lead to computer contamination not only with ransomware, but also threats like Trojans, viruses, keyloggers, backdoors or cryptocurrency miners. For this reason, we strongly recommend looking for legitimate software versions on their official developer’s or trusted partner’s websites only. Believe us when we say that software licenses rarely cost more than hefty ransom amounts demanded by cybercriminals.

Malvertising is another technique that allows offenders to distribute dangerous viruses like ransomware. Websites often place advertisements to generate revenue, although some of them use advertising networks that promote shady content. These websites hardly ever promote trustworthy or legitimate content themselves. Cybercriminals often target these ad networks and try to inject a malicious code leading to a malware payload. Clicking on a malicious ad can redirect you to dangerous online resources and infect your computer with severe malware. Therefore, it is best to avoid websites that trigger extremely annoying ads, especially ones that open an ad in new tab or pop-up window after clicking a button or a link in the website. Keeping a robust antivirus on your computer is also recommended to stop these attacks – make sure you use one that provides real-time protection 24/7.

Malicious email attachments are also actively used by cyber crooks to spread malware. These phishing emails are designed to look like they were sent by a legitimate entity or someone you know (such as colleague or your boss) and often urge to open the attachment which might be named as a simple everyday document, for example, “Invoice,” “Order Summary,” “Pending payment information,” “Parcel tracking details” or similar. Attackers typically compose the malicious attachments in DOCX, XLS or PDF formats that are commonly used in daily work or study assignments. These documents will contain dangerous JavaScript or Macro functions that can be leveraged to download the payload from a remote domain and run it on victim’s computer.

The attackers often use email spoofing techniques that can help to show you a different sender’s address and not the one that was actually used to send the message. We recommend you to read more about it and how you can identify spoofed email addresses here.

Our general recommendation is to avoid opening emails that you weren’t supposed to receive (for instance, do not open emails stating you ordered something online when you didn’t do it). You may also want to look for suspicious details such as unfamiliar greeting line or grammar mistakes in the message.

Finally, victims of this ransomware should be careful because there are a lot of fake STOP/DJVU decryption tools used to spread other file-encrypting malware strains such as ZORAB. If you’re looking for a legitimate guide on possibilities to decrypt or repair your files, see the guide on our website.

How this ransomware operates: technical details

If you’re interested in technical details about PALQ ransomware virus, this section is for you. It explains how the ransomware operates and what it actually does once it lands on your computer.

First of all, the ransomware unveils its operations with a set of build.exe, build2.exe and build3.exe processes. It collects information about user’s computer hardware, software installed and other details such as computer name and operating system version and saves the extracted data into information.txt file. The virus also sends this file to criminals’ Command&Control server.

Another preparation task done by this virus is checking whether victim’s computer is from a country that can be attacked. The virus has a set of exception country codes and in order to check whether the target host can be attacked, the virus connects to https[:]//api.2ip.ua/geo.json and saves the response to geo.json or geo[1].json file. This file contains information about user’s IP address, country, zip code, longitude and latitude, time zone. In case the infected host is based in Russian Federation, Syria, Armenia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Kazachstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan or Belarus, the virus terminates itself. A screenshot of such file is shown in the image below.

Once the ransomware decides that data the infected host can be encrypted, it then launches a fake Windows update window (winupdate.exe) to deceive the victim and justify the system slowdown. The ransomware also connects to its server to obtain a unique encryption key and personal ID to assign for the victim. If the virus succeeds to do so, it saves these details to bowsakkdestx.txt file and PersonalID.txt file on the computer. If the malware fails to obtain the key from the server, it uses offline encryption key instead (this key is hardcoded in the ransomware version itself).

Victims affected by offline key have a chance of recovering their data for free, although they have to wait until an appropriate decryption key gets discovered. You can read more about it here. You can check whether you were affected by offline key by looking at PersonalID.txt file. If the string here ends in t1, it means you were affected by offline key. If not, it means that online key was used.

The ransomware then encrypts all victim’s files using Salsa20 algorithm and secures the key used in this attack with RSA-2048 key additionally. At this point, the virus marks all files with additional extension and leaves _readme.txt files in each folder.

You can see _readme.txt note screenshot down below.

To prevent the victim from using System Restore Points to recover some data, the virus runs a Command Line task to delete Volume Shadow Copies from the system:

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

To cause even more frustration for the computer user, this ransomware attempts to block access to various websites providing malware removal guides, cybersecurity news or forums where users can discuss computer problems or malware-related questions. The virus edits Windows HOSTS file by adding a list of website names and mapping them to localhost IP. This causes DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error to appear in web browser when the victim attempts to visit one of the blocked websites from the list.

Finally, the ransomware leaves additional viruses on the system. Two known malware variants distributed along this ransomware are AZORULT and VIDAR, both used to steal login credentials, browsing history, banking details, Steam and Telegram login information and other sensitive details.

Remove PALQ Ransomware Virus and Recover Your Files

If you’ve become a victim of a ransomware attack, it is important to eradicate the malicious programs and related files from the system immediately. Keeping them on the system leaves your PC vulnerable to further attacks or even allows attackers to spy on you. To remove PALQ ransomware virus and other threats professionally, we advise using powerful antivirus software. One of such choices is INTEGO Antivirus, which provides real-time protection and monitors your network traffic to identify potential threats. Afterward, we suggest downloading RESTORO to repair virus damage on affected Windows OS files. Make sure you follow the guidelines provided below this article to boot your computer in Safe Mode with Networking before running malware removal programs.

Once PALQ virus removal is complete, do not forget to inform your local law enforcement agency about the cyber attack. If you had a data backup, plug it to your computer (only when you’re sure all malware was removed successfully). Additionally, we suggest reading this guide carefully to understand your options regarding data decryption and repair. Finally, we suggest changing your passwords for all accounts that were saved in your browser and also for various software installed on your computer.

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.

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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.