TOR13 File Locker - How to remove

The TOR13 file extension indicates a file-locking virus infection. File-encrypting ransomware is a type of malware that is distributed with the goal of earning money to the developers by demanding money from the victims in exchange for the promise to fix their locked files.

picture.jpg.id-[random].[[email protected]].TOR13

TOR13 belongs to the Dharma/CrySiS family. Dharma cryptoviruses have existed in different forms since 2016, and new strains are developed regularly. Clearly, this criminal business is still lucrative for the developers of TOR13, as people fall victim to these viruses every week.

What can be fixed?

TOR13 can infect computers and networks through Remote Desktop Protocol. Small businesses that aren’t expected to be able to fight back against TOR13 are likely to be targeted. Make sure to use complex passwords and be aware of phishing strategies so that your RD passwords cannot be guessed. Update your operating system, especially when important security bugs are fixed. Do not give more privilege to accounts than they need.

Other times, TOR13 creators use spam email to spread Dharma ransomware. The messages in the malicious emails try to manipulate the recipients to download and run a malicious file. A cryptovirus then might run in the background, maybe disguise the heavy usage of hardware resources needed to encrypt all the files by running different software in the foreground.

The prices for TOR13 decryption can be thousands of dollars. Some people might offer to decrypt the files for a price, but, more often than not, they’re contacting the extortionists. Even then, the developers of TOR13 are not trustworthy. TOR13 developers have sometimes demanded more money after the first payment was made, then they never sent the decryption keys.

Decryption is likely not going to happen. There are decryptors for a few older strains of Dharma, but they do not work for TOR13. That’s because the decryption is practically unbreakable without having the decryption keys, and only the extortionists have them.

The best thing to do would be to restore the files from a backup. However, that is not always possible. If the backups were made at all, they can be outdated, or otherwise not work (like, if the backups were connected to the infected computers during the encryption, they would likely be encrypted, too). Still, at least some copies of the encrypted files were probably stored somewhere separate from the encrypted storage, so not all the files should be lost.

Details on TOR13

A short ransom note from TOR13 is left after the encryption is done. It’s called RETURN FILES.txt and simply says:

All your data is encrypted!
for return write to mail:
[email protected]

A pop-up window with a more detailed message from TOR13 is presented. Its text is similar to the other Dharma viruses, like Dharma-Btc and NWA.

All FILES ENCRYPTED “RSA1024”

All YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED!!! IF YOU WANT TO RESTORE THEM, WRITE US TO THE E-MAIL [email protected]

IN THE LETTER WRITE YOUR ID, YOUR ID

IF YOU ARE NOT ANSWERED, WRITE TO EMAIL: 

YOUR SECRET KEY WILL BE STORED ON A SERVER 7 DAYS, AFTER 7 DAYS IT MAY BE OVERWRITTEN BY OTHER KEYS, DON’T PULL TIME, WAITING YOUR EMAIL

FREE DECRYPTION FOR PROOF

You can send us up to 1 file for free decryption. The total size of files must be less than 1Mb (non archived), and files should not contain valuable information. (databases,backups, large excel sheets, etc.)

DECRYPTION PROCESS:

When you make sure of decryption possibility transfer the money to our bitcoin wallet. As soon as we receive the money we will send you:

1. Decryption program.
2. Detailed instruction for decryption.
3. And individual keys for decrypting your files.

!WARNING!

• Do not rename encrypted files.
• Do not try to decrypt your data using third party software, it may cause permanent data loss.
• Decryption of your files with the help of third parties may cause increased price (they add their fee to our) or you can become a victim of a scam.

The encrypted files have their names changed by appending [[email protected]].TOR13. Media files, documents, almost all files that aren’t system files are replaced with these encrypted files. TOR13 encrypted files are useless, their contents scrambled and unrecognizable. The encrypted TOR13 files will not be fixed by just renaming them to get rid of the extension, they’re encrypted with a public-key algorithm.

How to remove TOR13

Ransomware is sometimes installed together with other viruses. Use an antivirus program to make sure that no malware is on your system before handling any sensitive and important files. Spyhunter, and other professional antivirus programs could do this well.

The files that have been encrypted by TOR13 should be recovered from a backup (but only after you’re sure that there’s no malware on the computer). If there is no backup, it’s also possible to recover some files (definitely not all) by using a data recovery application, which can scan a hard disk for deleted files.

How to recover TOR13 File Locker 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 TOR13 has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of TOR13 File Locker

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 TOR13. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore TOR13 File Locker 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 TOR13 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 TOR13 File Locker 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.