Foxy Ransomware - How to remove

Foxy virus, also known as Foxy ransomware, is a rather dangerous infection that can cause severe damage to your computer. It is usual for ransomware infections to encrypt files stored on a victims’ computer and demand a ransom in order to unlock them. This time it’s not different – Foxy ransomware will trie to frighten you and force to make a payment.

Yet again, Foxy is associated with Hidden Tear ransomware project. Two days ago we have informed our readers about Spanish ransomware virus Teamo – it was also built using Hidden Tear base. We should mention that this infection seems to be still in a beta or development mode, because of the lack of information provided in the ransom note. Nonetheless, after successful infiltration, it will encrypt files stored on a system and cause damage.

Foxy virus overview

Infection process for this virus is not that difficult – all it takes is to get a payload dropper inside of your computer and that’s it, it’s infected. There are several ways how this malicious file can be distributed – via malspam campaign or simply as a bundle to some software you download from the Internet for free. Either way, the best method to ensure that malicious file won’t sneak into your computer is to protect it with a special anti-malware software featuring real-time protection.

We have already mentioned that Foxy ransomware is still rather mysterious and unfinished, thus there is not much information about it. We don’t know whether it uses symmetric or asymmetric encryption algorithm, but either way, your files will be locked and unaccessible.

Encryption process will start as soon as the virus is inside of your computer. Every encrypted file will gain an additional extension ‘.nightmare’. So if you had a file named ‘myphoto.jpg’, now it will look like ‘myphoto.jpg.nightmare’. From this moment, it will be impossible to open it. Immediately after that your desktop screensaver will be changed to image with a message. Original text of the message:

1.) What happened to my PC/Files
– Your Files has been encrypted, what means, they are useless for you.
2.) Can I recover my Files?
– Of course. Just pay the price shown below, to the also shown below Bitcoin Address and after we recived the Payment, you get the decryption Key.
3.) Is there any other way to get my Files back?
– Yeah there is one option –>
—
00 : 46 : 55
If the Countdown is finished, all your Files get deleted!
Pay fast, get safe!
(Do Payment)
(Decrypt Files)

You will be offered to click a button ‘Do Payment’ and pay the ransom. After that, cyber criminals should send you an unique decryption key which would allow you to unlock your files. It is not known how much you will be asked to pay and where the money will go. We advise not to make the payment because even after that you can be left out without a key.

To scare users, Foxy ransomware features a countdown clock. When the time runs off, all your files will be deleted for good. However, this fact is not confirmed as well.

Instead of paying the ransom, we suggest you to remove the virus itself from your computer first. To do that – download anti-malware application, such as Spyhunter and run a scan. Either one of those programs should be able to detect and eliminate the infection in no time. It will also protect your computer from viruses like this in the future, so keep it installed.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to decrypt files locked by Foxy ransomware at the moment. You can only restore them from a backup, if you have one.

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

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Foxy 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 Foxy Ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Foxy 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 Foxy 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 Foxy 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.

Manual removal