Therefore, they experience financial loss and their data remains encrypted. Despite meeting the ransom demands, victims do not receive decryption keys/tools. Regardless of the circumstances, you are strongly advised against paying cyber criminals. Unfortunately, in most cases of ransomware infections, decryption is impossible without involvement of the individuals responsible, unless in rare cases the malware has bugs/flaws or is still in development. The main difference between the messages is that the text file/wallpaper goes into detail about how to install the Tor browser and gain access to the cyber criminals' website. The ransom messages in the text file and desktop wallpaper repeat the information regarding victims' data encryption and the necessity of decryption keys to restore the files. Users are warned that removing CryptoLocker-v3 or attempting to corrupt it will result in immediate deletion of decryption keys. To initiate the decryption process, victims are instructed to visit the provided website via the Tor browser.

Should the deadline be missed, it becomes impossible to decrypt the files. Users are alerted that the recovery keys will not be stored indefinitely, and the pop-up lists the date when they are deleted. To recover their data, victims are instructed that they must pay an unspecified ransom (in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency) for decryption keys.

Users can also verify that their data has been locked by clicking the 'Show encrypted files' button, which will reveal the complete list of compromised files. The ransom-demand message in the pop-up window states that victims' personal files have been encrypted with the RSA-2048 cryptographic algorithm. The text presented in the text file and wallpaper is identical. ecc' extension. For example, a file originally named something like ' 1.jpg' would appear as ' 1.jpg.ecc', ' 2.jpg' as ' 2.jpg.ecc', ' 3.jpg' as ' 3.jpg.ecc', and so on.Īfter this process is complete, ransom messages are created in a pop-up window, ' HELP_TO_DECRYPT_YOUR_FILES.txt' text file, and desktop wallpaper ' HELP_TO_DECRYPT_YOUR_FILES.bmp'. During the encryption process, files are appended with the '. It is designed to encrypt data and demand ransoms for decryption tools. CryptoLocker-v3 is a malicious program belonging to the CryptoLocker ransomware family.

How to decrypt the crypto locker virus