Has it ever happened that you received an email message from Skype or ICQ from an unknown sender with a link to your friend’s photo or congratulations on the upcoming holiday? It seems that you are not expecting any kind of setup, and suddenly, when you click on a link to a computer, serious malicious software is loaded. You do not have time to recover, as the virus has already encrypted all the files. What to do in such a situation? Is there a way to recover documents?
In order to understand how to deal with a malicious program, you need to know what it is and how it penetrates the operating system. Moreover, it doesn’t matter which version of Windows you use - the Critroni virus is designed to infect any operating system.
Cryptographic computer virus: definition and algorithm of action
On the Internet, a new computer virus software appeared, known to many under the name CTB (Curve Tor Bitcoin) or Critroni. This is an advanced ransomware trojan, similar in principle to the previously known malicious CriptoLocker malware. If the virus encrypted all the files, what should I do? First of all, you need to understand the algorithm of its operation. The essence of the virus is to encrypt all your files in the extensions .ctbl, .ctb2, .vault, .xtbl or others. However, you will not be able to open them until you pay the requested amount of money.
The viruses Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Shade and Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Onion are often found. They are very similar to PTS in their local action. They can be distinguished by the extension of encrypted files. Trojan-Ransom encodes information in .xtbl format. When you open any file, a message appears on the screen stating that your personal documents, databases, photos and other files were encrypted with malware. To decrypt them, you need to get a unique key for a fee, which is stored on a secret server, and only in this case you can make decryption and cryptographic actions with your documents. But do not worry, much less send money to a specified number, there is another way to combat this type of cybercrime. If such a virus got to your computer, it encrypted all .xtbl files, what should I do in this situation?
What you should not do when an encryption virus enters a computer
It happens that in a panic we install an antivirus program and with its help automatically or manually delete the virus software, losing with it important documents. This is unpleasant, in addition, the computer can store data that you have been working on for months. It's a shame to lose such documents without the possibility of their recovery.
If the virus encrypted all .xtbl files, some try to change their extension, but this also does not lead to positive results. Reinstalling the operating system and formatting the hard drive will permanently delete the malicious program, but at the same time you will lose all the ability to restore documents. In this situation, specially created decoder programs will not help either, because the software ransomware is programmed according to a non-standard algorithm and requires a special approach.
What is dangerous ransomware virus for a personal computer
It is clear that not a single malicious program will benefit your personal computer. Why is such software created? Oddly enough, such programs were created not only to entice as much money as possible from users. In fact, viral marketing is quite beneficial to many antivirus inventors. After all, if the virus has encrypted all the files on your computer, where will you go first? Naturally, for the help of professionals. Why are encryption viruses dangerous for your laptop or personal computer?
The algorithm of their work is non-standard, so it will be impossible to cure infected files with conventional anti-virus software. Removing malicious objects will result in data loss. Only moving to quarantine will make it possible to protect other files that the malicious virus has not yet managed to encrypt.
Encryption Malware Duration
If your computer has become infected with Critroni (malware) and the virus has encrypted all the files, what should I do? You cannot decrypt .vault-, .xtbl-, .rar-formats by manually changing the extension to .doc, .mp3, .txt and others. If within 96 hours you do not pay the required amount to cybercriminals, they will conduct intimidating correspondence by mail stating that all your files will be permanently deleted. In most cases, such threats act on people, and they are reluctant, but obediently, to perform these actions, fearing to lose valuable information. It is a pity, users do not understand the fact that cybercriminals are not always true to their word. Having received the money, they often no longer worry about decrypting your locked files.
When the malware timer expires, it automatically closes. But you still have a chance to restore important documents. A message will appear on the screen stating that the time has expired, and you can view more detailed information about the files in the document folder in the specially created notepad file DecryptAllFiles.txt.
Methods for penetrating encryption malware into the operating system
Typically, ransomware viruses infiltrate a computer through infected messages received via e-mail or via fake downloads. It could be fake flash updates or fraudulent video players. As soon as the program is downloaded to the computer in any of these ways, it immediately encrypts the data without the possibility of its recovery. If the virus encrypted all .cbf, .ctbl, .ctb2 files into other formats and you do not have a backup copy of the document stored on removable media, consider that you will no longer be able to restore them. At the moment, antivirus laboratories do not know how to crack such encryption viruses. Without the necessary key, you can only block infected files, move them to quarantine, or delete them.
How to avoid computer virus infection
The sinister virus encrypted all .xtbl files. What to do? You have already re-read a lot of unnecessary information that is written on most websites, and you can not find the answer. It so happens that at the most inopportune moment, when you urgently need to submit a report at work, a diploma at the university or to defend your professorship, the computer begins to live its own life: it breaks down, becomes infected with viruses, freezes. You must be prepared for such situations and keep information on the server and removable media. This will allow you to reinstall the operating system at any time and after 20 minutes to work at the computer, as if nothing had happened. But, unfortunately, we are not always so adventurous.
To avoid virus infection of your computer, you first need to install a good antivirus program. You must have correctly configured the Windows firewall, which protects against the ingress of various malicious objects through the Network. And most important: do not download software from unverified sites, torrent trackers. To avoid virus infection on your computer, keep track of which links you click on. If you received an email from an incomprehensible addressee asking or offering to see what is hidden behind the link, it is best to move the message to spam or delete it altogether.
So that at one point it doesn’t turn out that the virus encrypted all .xtbl files, anti-virus software laboratories advise a free method of protection against infection with cryptographic viruses: once a week to back up data and examine its status.
The virus encrypted all files on the computer: methods of treatment
If you become a victim of cybercrime and the data on your computer has been infected with one of the encryption types of malware, then it's time to try to recover the files.
There are several ways to treat infected documents for free:
- The most common method, and probably the most effective at the moment, is to back up documents and then restore them in case of unforeseen infection.
- Software file recovery. The CTB virus algorithm works in an interesting way. Once in the computer, he copies the files, encrypts them, and deletes the original documents, thereby eliminating the possibility of their recovery. But with Photorec or R-Studio software, you can save some intact original files. You should know that the longer you use a computer after it is infected, the less likely it is to restore all the necessary documents.
- If the virus encrypted all .vault files, there is another good way to decrypt them - using shadow copy volumes. Of course, the virus will try to permanently and permanently delete them all, but it also happens that some files remain untouched. In this case, you will have a small chance of their recovery.
- It is possible to store data on file hosting services such as DropBox. It can be installed on a computer as a local disk mapping. Naturally, the cryptographic virus will also infect it. But in this case, it is much more realistic to restore documents and important files.
Software Prevention of Personal Computer Virus Infection
If you are afraid of malicious malware entering your computer and do not want the insidious virus to encrypt all files, you should use the local policy editor or the Windows group. Thanks to this integrated software, you can configure the program restriction policy - and then you will not be bothered by thoughts about the infection of the computer.
How to recover infected files
If the CTB virus encrypted all the files, what should be done in this case to restore the necessary documents? Unfortunately, at present, no anti-virus laboratory can offer decryption of your files, but neutralization of the infection and its complete removal from a personal computer is possible. Above are all effective methods of information recovery. If your files are too expensive for you, and you have not bothered to back them up to removable media or an Internet disk, then you will have to pay the amount of money requested by the cybercriminals. But there is no chance that you will be sent a decryption key even after payment.
How to find infected files
To see the list of infected files, you can go this way: "My Documents" \. Html or "C:" \ "Users" \ "All Users" \. Html. This html-sheet contains data not only about random instructions, but also about infected objects.
How to block an encryption virus
Once the computer has been infected with malware, the first necessary action on the part of the user is to enable safe mode with the network. This is done by pressing the F10 keyboard key.
If a Critroni virus accidentally gets to your computer, it encrypts all the files in .rar, .ctbl, .ctb2, .xtbl, .vault, .cbf or any other format, in which case it is already difficult to restore them. But if the virus has not yet managed to make many changes, there is a possibility of its blocking with the help of a policy of limited access to programs.