R ransomware - How to remove

R crypto-malware has been labeled as a severe virus that won’t show mercy for its victims. Ironically, the authors of this sample do no refer to the demanded sum of money as a ransom, but as a “donation”. They offer assistance in the decryption process and suggest that victims would take this situation as a lesson to take a more proper care of their devices. Currently, there had been a lot of ransomware variants that require seemingly small ransoms, but R virus steps it up and asks for a large sum: 2106.06 US dollars in form of 2 BTC. To prove their reliability, hackers promise to decrypt three files that are smaller than 2MB and are one of the following types: .docs, .xls, .xml or .jpg.

Discussion about R ransomware

R ransomware tactics are pretty simple: infect devices, encrypt data in their hard drives, demand a ransom and walk away victoriously. After the busiest part of the plan (infiltration, encoding) is done, hackers will have no choice but to wait whether their threats will successfully break users’ will.

At first, Ransomware.txt provides the primary information. The ransom note contains explanations that AES-256-bit and RSA-2048-bit ciphers are selected to encrypt data. Authors of R virus also strongly discourage users from using alternative methods of file-recovery. Instead, they are urged to download a TOR browser and enter a Rvneiqch7moech7j.onion website. In this website, information about payment, transaction and file-recovery will be provided.

In the website, R ransomware displays demands and a “Support” box which will help victims’ contact hackers. Via this chat box, users are supposed to send the three files that they expect to be decrypted. You should definitely take advantage out of these statements and recover at least 3 of your encrypted executables. Once you receive this data back, immediately provide security researchers with both encrypted and decrypted versions.

Presumably, people from all over the world can become victims of R virus, since Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section contains explanations of how people from Europe, Italy, Brazil, USA and England can buy bitcoins. We express great concerns and require our visitors to always try to initiate secure online activity.

R ransomware gives an unlimited amount of time for victims’ to send a transaction. No threats are made, suggesting that the key for decryption could be permanently deleted. In the website, information about where to send the bitcoins will also be provided. It is explained that once a bitcoin wallet receives the required amount of bitcoins, the decryption software and key will be provided. However, we do not tend to believe such statements lightly. There s a very big change that hackers will show their vicious nature and won’t provide you with the promised tools.

Alternative ways of restoring data that R ransomware is responsible for ruining

It is difficult to find completely successful ways to recover data that is corrupted by ransomware viruses. R ransomware poses as big threat since security researchers have not introduced a free decryption tool for it. However, paying more than 2 thousand dollars seems irrational and naive. Hackers might not even provide you with legitimate tools in exchange for money. If you were clever enough to place your software in backup storages, you can easily retrieve files from them. Remember: before doing so, you should get rid of the infection itself. To learn more about other methods of file-recovery, scroll down.

How does R ransomware spread?

The specific way that R ransomware uses for its distribution is yet to be determined. However, we guess that the most popular tricks will be put to use. For example, malicious spam campaigns can be initiated and email accounts will receive letters, featuring payloads of ransomware as attachments. Never click on links or download files that unknown sources send you via emails. It is one of the easiest ways to spread not only ransomware infections, but also complement phishing scams. On the other hand, you are also to avoid websites that are not offering the most respectable services.

It is very important that before trying to decrypt files, you would firstly get rid of the infection. Spyhunter, Plumbytes and Malwarebytes are the extremely efficient anti-malware tools that won’t have any issue in removing R ransomware from your system.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore R 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 R 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 R 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.