'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware
The 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware is an encryption ransomware Trojan that was first observed in the last days of January 2019. The 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware attacks seem to target computer users in North America, with some cases appearing in Europe as well. The 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware is a variant in a large emerging family of ransomware Trojans that combines elements from the well-known ransomware families Crysis and Dharma. These hybrid ransomware threats carry out a strong attack that is difficult to deal with and have been responsible for a wide number of infections since they first appeared in late 2018.
How the 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware Trojan Works
The 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware is just the latest variant in this large family of threats that includes several dozen variants that are nearly identical. The 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware receives its name from the email address that it uses for the victims to contact the criminals responsible for the attack. The 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware, like most encryption ransomware Trojans, carries out an attack that consists of taking the victims' files hostage, encrypting them with a strong encryption algorithm, and then asking that the affected person or company pay a large ransom to restore the affected data. The 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware marks the files it encrypts by adding the file extension '.ETH' to each affected file. Once the victim's files have been encrypted, the 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware delivers a ransom note in the shape of a text file that is named 'FILES ENCRYPTED.txt,' which will be placed on the infected computer's desktop. The 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware seems to target the user-generated files in its attack, which may include files with the following extensions:
.jpg, .jpeg, .raw, .tif, .gif, .png, .bmp, .3dm, .max, .accdb, .db, .dbf, .mdb, .pdb, .sql, .dwg, .dxf, .cpp, .cs, .h, .php, .asp, .rb, .java, .jar, .class, .py, .js, .aaf, .aep, .aepx, .plb, .prel, .prproj, .aet, .ppj, .psd, .indd, .indl, .indt, .indb, .inx, .idml, .pmd, .xqx, .xqx, .ai, .eps, .ps, .svg, .swf, .fla, .as3, .as, .txt, .doc, .dot, .docx, .docm, .dotx, .dotm, .docb, .rtf, .wpd, .wps, .msg, .pdf, .xls, .xlt, .xlm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xltx, .xltm, .xlsb, .xla, .xlam, .xll, .xlw, .ppt, .pot, .pps, .pptx, .pptm, .potx, .potm, .ppam, .ppsx, .ppsm, .sldx, .sldm, .wav, .mp3, .aif, .iff, .m3u, .m4u, .mid, .mpa, .wma, .ra, .avi, .mov, .mp4, .3gp, .mpeg, .3g2, .asf, .asx, .flv, .mpg, .wmv, .vob, .m3u8, .dat, .csv, .efx, .sdf, .vcf, .xml, .ses, .qbw, .qbb, .qbm, .qbi, .qbr , .cnt, .des, .v30, .qbo, .ini, .lgb, .qwc, .qbp, .aif, .qba, .tlg, .qbx, .qby , .1pa, .qpd, .txt, .set, .iif, .nd, .rtp, .tlg, .wav, .qsm, .qss, .qst, .fx0, .fx1, .mx0, .fpx, .fxr, .fim, .ptb, .ai, .pfb, .cgn, .vsd, .cdr, .cmx, .cpt, .csl, .cur, .des, .dsf, .ds4, , .drw, .eps, .ps, .prn, .gif, .pcd, .pct, .pcx, .plt, .rif, .svg, .swf, .tga, .tiff, .psp, .ttf, .wpd, .wpg, .wi, .raw, .wmf, .txt, .cal, .cpx, .shw, .clk, .cdx, .cdt, .fpx, .fmv, .img, .gem, .xcf, .pic, .mac, .met, .pp4, .pp5, .ppf, .nap, .pat, .ps, .prn, .sct, .vsd, .wk3, .wk4, .xpm, .zip, .rar.
The criminals responsible for the attack ask for a ransom payment in digital currency, commonly of several hundred dollars. However, the criminals responsible for the 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware attack will generally have no interest in helping the victims restore their files and will often simply ignore the payment or use the payment as a way to target that victim for additional misleading tactics or attacks.
Dealing with the 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware
Rather than paying the ransom, computer users should remove all traces of the 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware from their computers with a reliable anti-virus application that is fully up-to-date. Unfortunately, the 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware encryption makes the files undecryptable. This is why having file backups is so important: file backups stored external devices are the best way for computer users to recover after a 'helpfilerestore@india.com' Ransomware attack, or infections involving other encryption ransomware Trojan threats like this one.
