CryForMe virus - How to remove

CryForMe ransomware virus is an in-dev infection that has been assigned to the category of samples that are roughly based on the open source Hidden Tear project. The payload of the latter infection is CryForMe.exe which is where the title was obtained from. An individual, going by the pseudonym of Marco has been resolved to be the author, but his true identity remains unknown. Considering a few hints that were discovered after analysis of this sample, security analysts have determined that the variant could have originated from Italy.

The virus also contains a characteristic which has become favored by hackers: a countdown until the files can be decrypted. In this case, the authors decided to give people exactly 7 days to submit their payments and have a chance of recovering their data with the decryption key they receive in exchange of money.

250 US dollars are indicated as the ransom, but it has to be sent via the bitcoin payment system. Approximately, 0.09983 BTC is the demanded fee, but you should not purchase bitcoins to render it. In the payment description, victims are expected to leave their contact information: name, PC name and an email address. However, we have very little faith in the possibility of hackers keeping their promises of providing people with a decent decryption tool.

This crypto-virus appends an original extension which is supposed to separate the files that have been affected by algorithms for encryption and the ones that remain functional. .cfm is the addition that should feature executables that become locked. For the time being, you should not notice this specific extension as the malware is not fully functional. It is still in development and could be launched in the next couple of days, weeks or maybe even never. However, it is plausible that a comparable virus will manage to corrupt your computer. If not this specific variant, there are plenty of similar samples that are currently in active mode.

We can enumerate a number of recommendations so you would know exactly how to prepare yourself for a ransomware attack. First of all, we have absolutely no doubt that that storing your valuable digital data in backup locations will come as a convenient feature at some point. Victims of crypto-viruses usually keep the only copies of their data in hard drives. Once these samples become encoded, people have to depend on security researchers’ attempts to create a free decryptor. If you have multiple sources for your files, then you will be able to retrieve them in case of an emergency.

Before you will have a chance recovering data, you should bear in mind that a ransomware infection has to be carefully eliminated. You can pursue this goal with an anti-malware tools like Spyhunter or Plumbytes.

The infection does not leave behind any .txt or .html files but presents its ransom note as the lock screen. This means that you will not be allowed to fully access your operating system and will be forced to look at the blue screen that contains all of the necessary information about the infection. Whatever you do, you are strongly discouraged from trying to get back your files by following the demands that hackers enlist. Paying the ransom won’t bring you back your files: hackers have history of not providing functional keys for decryption to the victims that paid the ransoms.

Since the ransomware is not yet fully released, we can only guess which strategy for distribution will be adopted. For instance, it could be that the malicious payload will be appended to email letters as an attachment. In some cases, ransomware is inserted into an operating system after user opens a harmful link. Crypto-viruses have also been noticed to be spread via social networking sites. If you happen to be tagged in a bizarre post or receive an odd message from one of your friends (or an unknown member), you should treat it with precaution.

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

 

Step 2. Complete removal of CryForMe 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 CryForMe virus. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore CryForMe 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 CryForMe 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 CryForMe 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.