Geek's Advice

SHGV ransomware infects your computer to lock all of your files

SHGV ransomware is a variant of STOP/DJVU virus that encrypts all files on your system. During the attack, this computer virus encrypts all photos, documents, databases, archives, videos and other data formats and marks them with additional .shgv extension. For example, a file previously called 1.jpg becomes 1.jpg.shgv after the cyberattack. At the same time, the ransomware drops notes called _readme.txt in every scanned folder. This text file left by the virus is widely known as the “ransom note” in which the cybercriminals explain that the only way to get SHGV decryption tool to recover all files is to pay a large ransom.

In other words, the operators of SHGV ransomware virus try to extort you after corrupting all of your files with their malicious software. The virus they use for this matter uses a combination of robust encryption algorithms – Salsa20 additionally secured with RSA-2048 – to make your files inaccessible. While encryption is designed to secure information (such as online communications or military-grade secrets), the cybercriminals use it for malevolent purpose. Files encrypted in such way become impossible to open, edit or view, so the victim loses access to important work files, study progress or personal memories – such as photos and videos saved on the computer.

The criminals behind the virus know that the information stored on victim’s computer is extremely relevant for the computer user, therefore they provide a “solution” in the ransom note (_readme.txt file). According to the crooks, the victim needs to contact the attackers via email. There are two email addresses provided in the threatening note – manager@mailtemp.ch and helprestoremanager@airmail.cc. The note specifies that the victim can get the decryption tool for $490 (with 50% discount) if one manages to contact the attackers and settle an agreement within 3 full days (72 hours). If delayed any longer, the criminals will set the decryption price to $980.

To provide the victim with a proof that files can indeed be decrypted by the ransomware operators, they suggest attaching one encrypted file to the email message. They also warn not to send file that contains valuable information, otherwise they won’t decrypt it for the victim. The sole purpose of the test decryption service is to showcase that it is “worth” paying the ransom and that the attacker’s promises aren’t just empty words. However, we still strongly recommend you NOT TO PAY THE RANSOM. Below, you can find some reasons why you shouldn’t listen to the virtual criminals’ instructions.

First of all, there are no guarantees that paying the ransom will result in successful data recovery. The attackers might disappear the minute you transfer your hard-earned money to them. In other scenario, the tool they provide might fail to function properly and part of your files may remain locked whatsoever. Moreover, paying the ransom simply fuels the ransomware cycle – it motivates the attackers to work on more malware, employ more skilled software developers, plus expand their distributors (affiliates) circle. The ransomware operator earn millions by collecting ransoms from computer users annually already. Therefore, we encourage you to not support these crooks by wasting your money. According to FBI guidelines on how to respond and report ransomware attacks, paying a ransom is NOT a recommended option.

Victims of this notorious ransomware strain should beware of its capabilities to drop additional malware on the system. According to latest researches, this ransomware carries either VIDAR Trojan or AZORULT malware. Both are known for their information-stealing capabilities. They can carry out the attacker’s commands on computer remotely and steal browser-saved passwords, browsing history, banking details, cookies, also Steam or Telegram login credentials, cryptocurrency wallets and more. With their hands on such sensitive information, criminals can continue to extort you even if you pay the ransom.

If you have unfortunately became a victim of ransomware, it is extremely important to secure your computer and eliminate all threats from it. To remove SHGV ransomware virus, it is advisable to boot your PC in Safe Mode with Networking and run an up-to-date antivirus software. You can find instructions on how to do it in the removal guidelines below this article. Our team recommends using security software as robust as INTEGO Antivirus. You may also want to download RESTORO, a tool that is capable of reverting virus damage to Windows OS files specifically.

Ransomware Summary

REMOVE MALWARE & REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE

Ransomware distribution methods

Ransomware-type threats like SHGV virus are mainly distributed via malicious torrent downloads, deceptive email attachments, less often – via hacked RDP connections or compromised ad networks. The primary STOP/DJVU ransomware distribution method is malicious torrents that users download via peer-to-peer file sharing clients.

If you have a habit of searching for a specific software or game crack online, you are definitely at high risk of infecting your computer with this ransomware strain. Sometimes, such users go extreme lengths when trying to get paid software for free, for example, they download several copies of the pirated software from several sources to see which one works, or even ignore antivirus software warnings due to misbelief that AV marks all torrents as malicious. Victims who have been affected by this or previous STOP/DJVU variants report noticing encrypted files after trying to use software cracks or keygens in torrents for these popular programs:

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

Remember that the only safe way to get the computer programs you want is to either visit its official developer’s online store or get it from a confirmed partner or affiliate. Do not trust other sources, especially those that claim to provide 100% free and working pirated versions as these can contaminate your computer with all sorts of malware, such as ransomware, Trojans, backdoors, notorious adware or browser hijackers.

Malicious email spam is also a widespread technique to distribute ransomware. Cybercriminals tend to compose documents in XLS, DOCX, PDF and other formats that allow injection of JavaScript or Macros specifically designed to download and run ransomware payload on the system. Such attachments are named as invoices, parcel tracking details, payment confirmations, order details, waybills and similar. The whole intention is to make the malicious document appear as safe as possible so that the victim would open it. The crooks even use email spoofing techniques so that the sender’s address would appear as legitimate and well-known one that seems to be associated with a well-known company or your workplace. Needless to say, attackers may pretend to be representatives of giant companies or your colleague/boss.

Be very careful when opening emails and interacting with their contents – remember that if you can feel the slightest suspicion that something is off, do not open email attachments and included links. Look out for red flags such as unfamiliar greeting lines, grammar mistakes, urgent tone to open the attachments and reply and so on.

Finally, victims of SHGV ransomware should know that there are some fake STOP/DJVU decryptors distributed online that can land you an additional ransomware infections. Crooks know that file-encrypting malware victims desperately try to find a solution to locked files when the chances to recover files are limited (see this guide for more information).

Ransomware activity on your computer

This section briefly overviews technical aspects of SHGV ransomware virus and explains its basic algorithms tasks to carry out on the infected machine. So, if you are interested in what has this piece of malware done to your computer while it was there, continue to read below.

The ransomware launches several executables at once, and these will be named as build.exe, build2.exe or build3.exe. The build2.exe file has several tasks and one of them is collecting information about the attacked system, such as infection timestamp, computer name, user name, display resolution, hardware details (processor, CPU count, RAM, VideoCard information), active processes list and installed software list. An example of this file is shown in the image below.

Additionally, build2.exe will take a screenshot of the desktop and send it among the information.txt file to the criminals’ Command&Control server. This same process also steals browsing history logs from web browsers, cookies and saved passwords and also send them to C&C server.

Another process of the ransomware may be named as 4 random characters, for example, H5GV.exe. Its duty is to perform a few initial checks, prepare the encryption key and then actually encrypt all files. It begins by connecting to https[:]//api.2ip.ua/geo.json which drops a geo.json file on a computer. This file contains details about the compromised computer’s geolocation, for example, country code, time zone, city, zip code, longitude and latitude and other details. The virus then checks if the computer’s country code matches one from its exception list (Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Syria, Kazachstan, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) and if it detects a match, the ransomware stops its operations altogether. It is common for ransomware to bypass specific countries when attacking computers worldwide – reasons behind this aren’t clear, although our guess is that the criminals do not attack countries from region they are from, or those that have low rate of people paying a ransom. If a match is not found, the ransomware proceeds to obtain an encryption key and set a personal ID for the machine.

To do this, the ransomware attempts to connect to C&C once again and get a unique online encryption key for the victim. If this fails, the virus decodes an offline key from its code instead and then saves the key along with ID to bowsakkdestx.txt file. The personal ID will be saved to a separate file called PersonalID.txt and inserted into every _readme.txt file on the computer as well. In some cases, there are several ID’s per machine, and all of those will be included in the PersonalID.txt file. You can see a screenshot of these discussed files below.

It is important to mention that victims affected by offline key can hope to decrypt .shgv files in the future, although it is unclear how long you will have to wait. Speaking of online key encryption, chances to recover files without a data backup are low – only if the cybercriminals get arrested and their servers are seized.

The ransomware then begins encrypting all files in every computer folder and dropping ransom notes in them. The virus first uses Salsa20 encryption algorithm and then secures it with RSA-2048-bit key additionally. You can see a screenshot of affected data folder below.

A screenshot of _readme.txt ransom note left in every folder is depicted below.

Ransomware in general tends to delete Volume Shadow Copies from the computer so that the victim could no longer make use of existing System Restore Points. In such case, the malware uses the following command via Command Prompt:

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

Finally, some STOP/DJVU versions alter Windows HOSTS file by adding a list of domains and mapping them to localhost IP – this prevents the victim from accessing these websites via popular web browsers. It is believed that ransomware operators are trying to block the victim from accessing relevant ransomware attack related information on how to react and respond to the incident. Due to these alterations, the computer user may run into DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error when trying to visit one of the blocked domains.

Remove SHGV Ransomware Virus and Recover Your Files

Now that you have unfortunately fallen victim to file-encrypting malware attack, we suggest that you remove SHGV ransomware virus as soon as you can. The first step we recommend taking is booting your operating system in Safe Mode with Networking as explained below. Then, update your antivirus software and run a full system scan to detect the malware. In case you didn’t have a security software prior to the attack, we suggest using INTEGO Antivirus, which showcases excellent malware detection rates and provides real-time protection. Additionally, we recommend downloading RESTORO (see its review here) to repair virus damage on Windows OS files.

Please follow SHGV ransomware removal guidelines carefully. After elimination of the virus, we recommend that you read these guidelines on chances to recover files encrypted by STOP/DJVU versions. Additionally, you may want to report cybercrime incident to your local law enforcement agencies or FBI (see some references below). For frequently asked questions, see the corresponding section below.

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.