Clop Virus (ransomware) - How to remove

Recently discovered Clop virus is a ransomware infection, that can encrypt all your personal files and ask for a ransom in return once it is inside of your computer. It’s not known how much you will be asked to pay – it can be anything from $100 to several thousands of dollars. Regardless of that, we do not encourage you to pay the ransom – victims of Clop ransomware should solve this problem using alternative techniques. Even though your files are very important to you, paying the ransom is not a good idea in any case. It provides cyber criminals with extra cash and allows them to continue their filthy works. Also, it’s not guaranteed that you will retrieve your files even after paying the ransom, so think twice before doing that.

We have mentioned that there are alternative methods to solve this problem and we are going to provide you with all the information needed to get rid of Clop Virus as fast as possible. So if your computer is currently infected with Clop virus or you just want to improve the security level of your computer and avoid malware like this, please proceed reading the article.

How Clop Ransomware Infected Your Computer

Usually, ransomware viruses are distributed via spam emails and it seems that this case is not an exception. Cyber criminals use ’social techniques to craft good looking and persuasive emails that usually claim that you (as a receiver) have some very important information to read and it is attached to the email. Most of the time this attached file looks like .doc or .pdf document, but in reality, it’s payloader that will upload malicious files of Clop Virus directly to your computer. So it’s enough to open such attachment to get infected with this virus.

Crooks behind Clop virus send out millions and millions of those emails and some percentage of users fall for the trick. That’s why you should never get into the Spam category on your inbox. Most of the email service providers nowadays are advanced enough to separate good from bad, so don’t risk your safety and don’t even try to surf the spam folder, unless you know the sender.

It would be even better to protect your computer with software that can stop ransomware on the go. Ransomware infections can be distributed using other methods as well and they might be not so easy avoidable. For instance, if you protect your computer with IObit Malware Fighter, it will block all unauthorized attempts to make changes to your files, so no ransomware will be able to encrypt your data.

How Clop Infection Encrypts Files

If it’s too late for prevention and those malicious files of Clop virus are already on your computer, you can expect all your personal files to be locked. Clop will automatically run a scan and detect various files that can be locked – images, audio and video files, text documents and so on. Then, they use strong ’cryptography’ to change the structure of your files.

Also, they will add .clop extension to every encrypted file – that’s where the name of this infection comes from. They generate unique decryption code for every infected computer and store it on a remote server, so the only possible way to get it is to pay the ransom. After that, they will create a file called “ClopReadMe.txt” and place it on your desktop. It is a ransom note and it goes like this:

Your network has been penetrated.
All files on each host in the network have been encrypted with a strong algorithm.
Backups were either encrypted or deleted or backup disks were formatted.
Shadow copies also removed, so F8 or any other methods may damage encrypted data but not recover.
We exclusively have decryption software for your situation
No decryption software is available in the public.
DO NOT RESET OR SHUTDOWN ñ files may be damaged.
DO NOT RENAME OR MOVE the encrypted and readme files.
DO NOT DELETE readme files.
This may lead to the impossibility of recovery of the certain files.
Photorec, RannohDecryptor etc. repair tools are useless and can destroy your files irreversibly.
If you want to restore your files write to emails (contacts are at the bottom of the sheet) and attach 2-3 encrypted files
(Less than 5 Mb each, non-archived and your files should not contain valuable information
(Databases, backups, large excel sheets, etc.)).
You will receive decrypted samples and our conditions how to get the decoder.
Attention!!!
Your warranty – decrypted samples.
Do not rename encrypted files.
Do not try to decrypt your data using third party software.
We don`t need your files and your information.
But after 2 weeks all your files and keys will be deleted automatically.
Contact emails:
[email protected]
or
[email protected]
The final price depends on how fast you write to us.
Clop

How To Eliminate Clop Virus

Clop Virus can be removed with a help of reputable anti-malware software. We have analyzed various ransomware infections, such as Pedant, FCrypt, or Pluto ransomware and all those infections can be removed with Spyhunter. All you have to do is run a scan with one of those programs and Clop virus and all associated files will be gone forever. Unfortunately, removing the virus itself and restoring your encrypted files is not the same.

Since you decided to go alternative way and instead of paying the ransom you removed the virus from your computer, now you have to recover files that are currently locked. There are a couple of ways to do that. First of all, you can perform a system restore – this is probably the most effective way to do that. Unfortunately, system restore is only possible if you have a valid backup of your system.

In case you don’t have the ability to perform a system restore, please follow the instructions provided below this article. Also, feel free to ask us a question in the comments section below.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to recover Clop Virus (ransomware) encrypted files and remove the virus

Step 1. Restore system into last known good state using system restore

1. Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt:

for Windows 7 / Vista/ XP

• Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
• Press F8 key repeatedly until Advanced Boot Options window appears.
• Choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

for Windows 8 / 10

• Press Power at Windows login screen. Then press and hold Shift key and click Restart.
• Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings and click Restart.
• When it loads, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list of Startup Settings.

 

2.Restore System files and settings.

• When Command Prompt mode loads, enter cd restore and press Enter.
• Then enter rstrui.exe and press Enter again.
• Click “Next” in the windows that appeared.
• Select one of the Restore Points that are available before Clop Virus (ransomware) has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Clop Virus (ransomware)

After restoring your system, it is recommended to scan your computer with an anti-malware program, like Spyhunter and remove all malicious files related to Clop Virus (ransomware). You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Clop Virus (ransomware) affected files using Shadow Volume Copies

If you do not use System Restore option on your operating system, there is a chance to use shadow copy snapshots. They store copies of your files that point of time when the system restore snapshot was created. Usually Clop Virus (ransomware) tries to delete all possible Shadow Volume Copies, so this methods may not work on all computers. However, it may fail to do so. Shadow Volume Copies are only available with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. There are two ways to retrieve your files via Shadow Volume Copy. You can do it using native Windows Previous Versions or via Shadow Explorer. a) Native Windows Previous Versions Right-click on an encrypted file and select Properties → Previous versions tab. Now you will see all available copies of that particular file and the time when it was stored in a Shadow Volume Copy. Choose the version of the file you want to retrieve and click Copy if you want to save it to some directory of your own, or Restore if you want to replace existing, encrypted file. If you want to see the content of file first, just click Open.

b) Shadow Explorer It is a program that can be found online for free. You can download either a full or a portable version of Shadow Explorer. Open the program. On the left top corner select the drive where the file you are looking for is a stored. You will see all folders on that drive. To retrieve a whole folder, right-click on it and select “Export”. Then choose where you want it to be stored.

Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover Clop Virus (ransomware) encrypted files

There are several data recovery programs that might recover encrypted files as well. This does not work in all cases but you can try this:

• We suggest using another PC and connect the infected hard drive as slave. It is still possible to do this on infected PC though.
• Download a data recovery program.
• Install and scan for recently deleted files.

Note: In many cases it is impossible to restore data files affected by modern ransomware. Thus I recommend using decent cloud backup software as precaution. We recommend checking out Carbonite, BackBlaze, CrashPlan or Mozy Home.