Kaandsona Ransomware - How to remove

Kaandsona is a brand new ransomware virus thus it’s not very popular at the moment. It was spotted by cyber security researchers only in January of 2017 and it might become more active as the time goes by. If you were unlucky enough and your computer is already infected with this virus, proceed reading. In this article we will provide you with detailed instructions how to eliminate Kaandsona virus either manually or automatically and retrieve your files.

First of all, Kaandsona has to be removed from your system because it can infiltrate other infections into your system and cause more damage to your computer. There are two most common methods to get rid of infection like this – it can be done either manually or automatically, so it’s up to you which removal method to choose.

Since it’s much easier to eliminate infection like this automatically, we suggest to go for this removal method. Download reliable anti-malware application, such as Spyhunter or Malwarebytes, install it on your computer and then run a full scan of all files stored on your hard drive. One of these apps should detect and eliminate the infection immediately. It will also protect your computer from similar infections in the future, so it’s worth to keep it installed. If your computer is already infected with other malware, it will detect and remove it too.

However, if for some reasons you don’t want to download any additional anti-malware software, you can eliminate Kaandsona manually too. This process might be complicated if you have no experience in removing viruses like this. That’s why we have developed a step-by-step Kaandsona manual removal guide – scroll down below this article and take a look at it. Try to complete all steps correctly and you will be able to eliminate Kaandsona manually by your own.

To learn more about specific features of Kaandsona please continue reading this article. If you have some questions regarding this topic, feel free to ask them in the comments section below and we will do our best to provide you with needed assistance.

About Kaandsona ransomware

The main target of Kaandsona ransomware is personal computers and files stored on them. Once inside of the system, Kaandsona runs a scan of all files stored on the hard drive. It detects files that could be encrypted. And that’s basically any file that you use personally – photos, video and audio files, text documents and so on. After the scan it locks all those files, adding .kencf extension to them. Now you can’t open any of them. Immediately after that you will notice a message on your desktop, that says:

You have been struck by the holy the Kaandsona ransomware
Either you pay 1 BTC in 24 hours, or you lose ALL FILES’

1 BTC is around 920.2 USD at the current exchange rate so it’s a lot of money. Users are forced to make the fast, otherwise the files will be deleted. That’s an old trick to push victims to panic and force to make bad decisions. Even though it might look like the best option to just pay the ransom and retrieve your files, we definitely do not recommend to do that. First of all, there are no guarantees that you will retrieve your files even after paying the ransom. That means you will lost both your files and your money. Moreover, you support cyber criminals by paying the ransom and that’s not a good thing to do.

Unfortunately, at the current moment there are no available decrypter yet. Cyber security experts are working on it and we will update you as soon as it’s ready. Besides that, you can retrieve your files even without the decrypter. Simply perform system restore to the date previous infection. In order to be able to do that, you have to have a valid copy of your hard disk that was made before the date of infection. We have prepared instructions of system restore for you: https://www.2-viruses.com/how-to-do-a-system-restore

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Kaandsona 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 Kaandsona 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 Kaandsona 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