[SOLVED] Igal ransomware attack

[JackFive]

Hello...
I'm explaining it asap
I was cheated by a guy selling a game
He sent me files which i opened and it turned out to be a ransomware virus and it destroyed all my files and encrypted them.. now i can't contact him he blocked me from everywhere...
All my files are infected..
Is there anything i can do?
I have soo many important data in my pc help me fix this please...i have reinstalled windows to get rid of it..
Urgent help is required
Thanks!

 

[DSzymborski]

Unfortunately, you committed two fatal mistakes which, in tandem, have left you out of options. Important data should have been backed up, which is a crucial failure, unfortunately.

Now, your options are:

1. Quarantine the files on a drive not connected to anything and store it for a few years in the hope that someone figures out how to decrypt this ransomware algorithm.
2. Go without the data.
3. Pay the ransom and pray that the ransomer actually releases your data after taking your money.

That's pretty much it.

 

[Blackink]

So if I'm understanding the OP correctly, he did a clean install of Windows 10 and he still has the Ransomware?!?

I'm not familiar with Ransomware but that stuff must be some nasty to still be on a hard drive after a clean install of Windows.

So.......does ransomware stay on the hard drive after doing a clean install (meaning a complete format and clean install of the SSD/HHD)?

 

[USAFRet]

So if I'm understanding the OP correctly, he did a clean install of Windows 10 and he still has the Ransomware?!?

I'm not familiar with Ransomware but that stuff must be some nasty to still be on a hard drive after a clean install of Windows.

So.......does ransomware stay on the hard drive after doing a clean install (meaning a complete format and clean install of the SSD/HHD)?

A ransomware thing is 2 parts.
The virus, and what used to be your files.

A reinstall of Windows may erase the virus, but does not decrypt any files that may have existed in a different partition or drive.

 

[COLGeek]

Hello...
I'm explaining it asap
I was cheated by a guy selling a game
He sent me files which i opened and it turned out to be a ransomware virus and it destroyed all my files and encrypted them.. now i can't contact him he blocked me from everywhere...
All my files are infected..
Is there anything i can do?
I have soo many important data in my pc help me fix this please...i have reinstalled windows to get rid of it..
Urgent help is required
Thanks!

I hope you have a backup of your important files somewhere else. Your original files are likely gone for good, either from the ransomware encryption or the new installation of Windows.

Getting applications from questionable sources are often laden with malware. Only get from legit sources in the future.

Good luck.

 

[Blackink]

A ransomware thing is 2 parts.
The virus, and what used to be your files.

A reinstall of Windows may erase the virus, but does not decrypt any files that may have existed in a different partition or drive.

Very scary stuff then. I'd wipe ALL HHD's/SSD's if it ever happened to me, but I don't see that happening.

This reminds me of when I first got into computers back around 1991 and we were using AOL for Internet connection.
My son, 7 years old at the time, was playing a game on AOL with a group of people (he didn't know any of them) and the person running the game said he had to leave and wondered if anyone wanted the "stuff' to continue playing the game with the others. My son spoke up and said he'd take it so he could continue to run the game so the others could continue to play.

The guy sent the "stuff" alright, as soon as my son clicked on it, the computer started going bonkers and my son screamed out in horror (I was working 2nd shift at the time), my wife was there to witness him screaming so she runs in to see the monitor doing all sorts of strange things. My son knew he messed up but he "trusted" the guy.
Next thing we know, the password was hijacked and whatever could be done on AOL back then to steal your info was happening right in front of their eyes!! And they couldn't stop it.

An exe file was placed in the System folder in Windows XP and luckily I was able to delete it.
Problem was solved except for contacting AOL to let them know my son's username and password had been hacked. They understood and fixed the problem on their end.

It's not that easy these days to clean up from any rogue attack but this thread sure brought back those memories from the AOL days.....

 

[USAFRet]

Very scary stuff then. I'd wipe ALL HHD's/SSD's if it ever happened to me, but I don't see that happening.

This is specifically what backups are for. Particularly offline backups.

If any/all of my drives died right now, at most I'd lose data since midnight.
If ransomware was actually allowed to run long enough to get to my NAS box, at most I'd lose data from the most recent Wednesday.
If the whole house burned down, any life critical data exists on a hard drive that is offsite.

Drive space is so cheap, and free software...there is ZERO reason to not have a good backup routine in place.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Blackink]

Macrium Reflect is the answer to any back-ups I have!!
And I'm glad I use it with an external HHD to store my info.

I haven't had to use it in any emergency but I did a test run on all 3 computers in the house with each one using Macrium Reflect.
I followed the directions for a recovery and it worked flawlessly on all 3.
I was sold on it after that!

 

[USAFRet]

I have had to use it after a dead drive.

960GB SanDisk died suddenly. Suddenly, as in - It was working 10 minutes ago...
605GB data on it.

Slap in a new drive, click click in Macrium....all 605GB data recovered, exactly as it was at 4AM that morning.

 

[drivinfast247]

Hello...
I'm explaining it asap
I was cheated by a guy selling a game
He sent me files which i opened and it turned out to be a ransomware virus and it destroyed all my files and encrypted them.. now i can't contact him he blocked me from everywhere...
All my files are infected..
Is there anything i can do?
I have soo many important data in my pc help me fix this please...i have reinstalled windows to get rid of it..
Urgent help is required
Thanks!

Damn! That sucks! Live and learn.

Happy Holidays!

 

[JackFive]

So all that means I'm lost to a hacker and lost my everything 💔
Is there anything to decrypt my data?
All my pictures i kept from 5 years and music songs games games save data my personal documents etc all have gone i think😞
Maybe its time to retire from pc life....

 

[DSzymborski]

So all that means I'm lost to a hacker and lost my everything 💔
Is there anything to decrypt my data?
All my pictures i kept from 5 years and music songs games games save data my personal documents etc all have gone i think😞
Maybe its time to retire from pc life....

Well, again, it sucks to lose the files this way, but if they were important, you should have treated them as important. Not backing up your files is no different than not changing the oil in your car or the filter in your furnace.

Being neglectful left you vulnerable to something like this happening. Rather than quit something useful, learn from the experience and do better next time. If you neglected your car and it broke down, you wouldn't give up driving, would you?

 

[USAFRet]

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[JackFive]

Well, again, it sucks to lose the files this way, but if they were important, you should have treated them as important. Not backing up your files is no different than not changing the oil in your car or the filter in your furnace.

Being neglectful left you vulnerable to something like this happening. Rather than quit something useful, learn from the experience and do better next time. If you neglected your car and it broke down, you wouldn't give up driving, would you?

One big issue is the storage...i had 160x2 hdds and they were about full so couldn't back them up and my external 1tb drive also broke so that was pure bad luck... unfortunately couldn't do anything

 

[Deleted member 14196]

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

I finally bought a copy of Macrium Reflect and I do this exact thing now. That is a wonderful back up tool

Plus all my really important stuff is backed up in the cloud all my documents and important things

 

[punkncat]

I have come to a point where I am at a crossroad on even keeping local storage, in part due to things like this, as well as just having to keep up with physical drives and such.

Almost all of my photos are already going to the cloud when I take them. I have subscriptions to music and movie services that allow me to see almost anything I want, on demand, from anywhere. I keep all my games in services that back those up for me and can be reinstalled to anywhere from anywhere type deal.

The trade off comes down to the illusion of privacy as opposed to actual redundant backups.

I have a lot of data that I would "like" to keep because it has sentimental value. By and large the actual "critical" information that I have would probably almost fit in a free Google account storage.

 

[Blackink]

So all that means I'm lost to a hacker and lost my everything 💔
Is there anything to decrypt my data?
All my pictures i kept from 5 years and music songs games games save data my personal documents etc all have gone i think😞
Maybe its time to retire from pc life....

Next time don't click on ANY files you receive from someone you don't know.

I don't think retiring from using a computer is the answer, like another person in this thread said, "live and learn from your mistake".

Now maybe you can take the hard drives to a reputable computer repair shop to see if there's anything they could do but I'd be surprised if they wanted to look at them at all.

 

[JackFive]

Next time don't click on ANY files you receive from someone you don't know.

I don't think retiring from using a computer is the answer, like another person in this thread said, "live and learn from your mistake".

Now maybe you can take the hard drives to a reputable computer repair shop to see if there's anything they could do but I'd be surprised if they wanted to look at them at all.

Well... retiring isn't the best answer...i would use my computer anyway...time to move on i guess 😊
Next time i will not even buy anything like that...
Thank you everyone for showing support towards my problem...this forum is the best ...stay safe everyone....
Peace!

 

[Corwin65]

Next time i will not even buy anything like that...

Seems like you learned nothing from our responses. "Next time I will have a backup of my important stuff" should have been your response.