Prometheus Ransomware - How to remove

Prometheus is a malicious file-encrypting program – ransomware. It encrypts data on the infected computer, but not before the data being stolen. In exchange for not selling the stolen data and for repairing the encrypted data, Prometheus’ operators ask for ransoms of thousands of dollars.

Prometheus (also known as Prometheus Group, Prom, Thanos) uses new file extensions to mark the encrypted files. These extensions are random symbols separated with dashes in groups of three, three, and four. For instance, A12-42E-5DB2.

About Prometheus ransomware:

Threat type	Ransomware, data stealer.
How Prometheus infects computers	It is distributed by the RaaS model, the operators of the ransomware steal data, it encrypts files and marks their names with a new suffix of random symbols separated with dashes.
Can you get your data back?	Restore data from a backup, there is no free decryptor at the moment.
How to remove Prometheus	Use antivirus tools (Spyhunter, others) or wipe your data to get rid of the infection, find out how your system was infected and improve your security as needed.

How Prometheus ransomware works

Prometheus is RaaS

Prometheus ransomware is a strain of ransomware that is operated by a group of criminals and used to extort victims. This ransomware is thought to be related to Thanos and Hakbit. It presents itself as being related to REvil, a very infamous ransomware gang, but according to Palo Alto, there’s no evidence that there’s a connection and it’s more likely that Prometheus is trying to steal Revil’s clout.

There’s a criminal group that develops Prometheus. It partners with other groups that distribute the ransomware and the groups share the profits. This model is called RaaS – ransomware as a service.

Prometheus being a RaaS means that it’s difficult to predict how this ransomware will infect computers and networks. For instance, the criminals who take care of the infection could be locals who are able to craft very convincing phishing messages. Or they could set up fake websites to lure in victims and trick them into downloading infected files.

Prometheus appears to be targeted to specific companies, but again, there’s no way to tell for sure that it won’t end up infecting individual victims.

It steals and encrypts data

Once Prometheus infects a computer, it tries to disable security programs. Then it deletes backups and looks for files to encrypt.

But first, the criminals steal confidential data from businesses and threatens to sell and/or publish it if the victim doesn’t pay. The Prometheus gang publishes this data on their website.

In addition, it encrypts files on compromised computers. Prometheus encrypts documents, spreadsheets, media files, archives, text files, and various other files. While it’s doing that, you might notice some programs quitting on their own – that’s Prometheus closing processes that could be interfering with encryption.

The ransomware marks the locked files by changing their names to end with an extension unique to the victim but the same for all encrypted files. This extension is a set of three, three, and four random letters and numbers separated by dashes. For example:

Document.docx.U45-D57-I5S9

Finally, Prometheus creates ransom notes (called RESTORE_FILES_INFO) and shows system notifications that tell the victims to contact the criminals. Here’s some of the ransom note text:

YOUR COMPANY NETWORK HAS BEEN HACKED

All your important files have been encrypted!
Your files are safe! Only modified. (AES)
No software available on internet can help you.
We are the only ones able to decrypt your files.

——————————————————————–

We also gathered highly confidential/personal data.
These data are currently stored on a private server.
Files are also encrypted and stored securely.

The people behind Prometheus ask for thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency and give only a few days for victims to pay the ransom.

How to remove Prometheus ransomware

Delete Prometheus ransomware

Ransomware and other malware can be deleted by antivirus programs, such as Spyhunter. Antivirus scanners detect Prometheus with names like Trojan, Ransom, Malicious, Filecoder, and Thanos: Virustotal.com.

You can also reformat your drive and reinstall your programs. Sometimes, ransomware spreads together with other malware and it’s important to remove all the threats. This does not bring back the encrypted files, though. Consider contacting a certain ransomware specialist to learn more.

Antivirus programs can help you avoid ransomware infections. Just don’t disable them at any time. But the best way to keep your data safe from ransomware is regular, secure backups. If you had backups from before the Prometheus attack, then all you need to do is restore your data from them – after taking care of a few things:

• delete Prometheus and other malware,
• find how it got on your system and repair the security hole (weak RDP password, email spam, etc.).

It is important to figure out how Prometheus infected your system and stop this from happening again. Repeat ransomware attacks do happen and they can be devastating.

Automatic Malware removal tools

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Prometheus 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 Prometheus 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 Prometheus 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.