CommonRansom Virus - How to remove

Newly discovered CommonRansom infection is extremely dangerous – it is already obvious from a name that it is a ransomware infection. Ransomware virus can lock your personal files up or completely remove them. However, the second feature is common only to wiper viruses and in this case, CommonRansom is not a wipe – it locks files up and then demands a ransom to be paid in order to provide a special software that could unlock and make them usable once again.

The ransom is 0.1 of Bitcoin, currently worth around $600. Even though that looks like a reasonable price to pay for your files, we highly suggest not to do that. There are better options than paying the ransom. Keep in mind that you can be scammed and forgotten after you make the payment. Also, supporting those crooks with your money is never a good thing.

In this article, we will provide you with the relevant information about CommonRansom and how it is infiltrated into computers. Also, we will deliver detailed instructions on how to get rid of the virus itself and restore the files that have been encrypted, so stay tuned.

CommonRansom – Not So Common At All

This ransomware infection is a little bit different in the way it operates. While most of the ransomware infections, such as Nemesis virus, EnybenyCrypt, or HiddenBeer simply provides a special tool that can reverse the encryption process and decrypt files after the ransom is paid, cyber criminals behind CommonRansom want you to provide them with the access and full control over your computer, so they could do it by themselves, only remotely.

So you not only pay the money but also provide a full power over your system to some crooks, that is as crazy as it sounds. Obviously, you can trust them and hope that they will actually decrypt your files – after all, you have already paid for this service. However, keep in mind that you are dealing with new era criminals and low moral standards. They have already developed and distributed software that is dedicated to stealing money from users, so they could simply ruin your system or steal personal data when you give them a full control over it.

That is probably the only uncommon thing about CommonRansom. Besides that, it is pretty regular. It is distributed as an attachment to spam emails, it encrypts files using ’AES, it provides a ransom note with details and instructions, and it prefers Bitcoins as the payment type to collect ransoms.

CommonRansom Technical Features

CommonRansom employs [[email protected]].CommonRansom extension that is appended to the end of every encrypted file. So if you had a file named “MyFile.jpg”, after the encryption it will be renamed to “MyFile.jpg.[[email protected]].CommonRansom”. That’s a sign that it is already encrypted with a strong cryptography and you can’t use it any longer.

The encryption is a process of changing the structure of your files. Unfortunately, almost all file types are vulnerable, so you are likely to lose all of your personal files if CommonRansom hits you. All those 0s and 1s that your files are made of are shuffled and a special, unique key is assigned to your computer. It is used to identify infected users, it’s like your tag. And it will be provided in the ransom note, which will be saved in a file called “DECRYPTING.txt”, which can be found in every folder that features encrypted files. It contains a ransom note and it goes like this:

+———————–+
¦—-+CommonRansom+—–¦
+———————–+
Hello dear friend,
Your files were encrypted!
You have only 12 hours to decrypt it
In case of no answer our team will delete your decryption password
Write back to our e-mail: [email protected]

In your message you have to write:
1. This ID-[VICTIM_ID]
2. [IP_ADDRESS]:PORT(rdp) of infected machine
3. Username:Password with admin rights
4. Time when you have paid 0.1 btc to this bitcoin wallet:
35M1ZJhTaTi4iduUfZeNA75iByjoQ9ibgF

After payment our team will decrypt your files immediatly

Free decryption as guarantee:
1. File must be less than 10MB
2. Only .txt or .lnk files, no databases
3. Only 5 files

How to obtain bitcoin:
The easiest way to buy bitcoins is LocalBitcoins site. You have to register, click ‘Buy bitcoins’, and select the seller by payment method and price.
http://sss.ncnqecndkveqkpu.lceqo.ru3.gsr.awhoer.net/buy_bitcoins
Also you can find other places to buy Bitcoins and beginners guide here:
http://lcyyy.aceqkpfgum.lceqo.ru3.gsr.awhoer.net/information/how-can-i-buy-bitcoins/

[email protected] is an email address used to contact cyber criminals. We do not recommend to follow those instructions in any case. It is both dangerous and not smart. Instead of paying $600 to the cyber criminals and hoping that they will keep their word and unlock your personal files, you should get yourself reliable anti-malware software, remove the virus and go for alternative methods to restore lost data.

How To Eliminate CommonRansom Virus And Restore Files

Dealing with such a dangerous virus requires a professional anti-malware software, thus we recommend to go with Spyhunter.

Unfortunately, anti-malware software can’t decrypt files affected by CommonRansom. The free decryptor is not available yet also. That means you should perform a system restore and restore your computer to a state previous to the infection. If you can’t do that, try using file recovery tools, that could recover files after the damage. This method is not 100% effective, but extreme situations call for extreme actions.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to recover CommonRansom Virus 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 CommonRansom Virus has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of CommonRansom Virus

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 CommonRansom Virus. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore CommonRansom Virus 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 CommonRansom Virus 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 CommonRansom Virus 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.