What is Kerkoporta Ransomware?
If you have been infected with Kerkoporta Ransomware, there is a slight chance that you can get away with it without losing all your precious files. Our malware experts at anti-spyware-101.com say that they have found that this malware infection may have two variants spreading on the web; one still in development and one that is finished. If you are lucky and infected your computer with the former, chances are your screen is not locked and your files have not been encrypted at all. If the latter managed to crawl onto your system, unfortunately, your files have been encoded and your screen locked. No wonder why we keep emphasizing the need for a regular backup. After such a severe hit to your system, there may be no other way for you to recover your files even if these cyber criminals may claim that they will send you the decryption key after you send them the demanded ransom fee. We do not think it is a good idea to contact such criminals in any way. In fact, we advise you to remove Kerkoporta Ransomware right away without a second thought if you want to use your computer again.
Where does Kerkoporta Ransomware come from?
Basically, it is most likely that you have infected your machine yourself by opening a spam mail. To be precise, it is not that you opened this mail but that you also tried to view its attachment. This attachment can be disguised as a picture, a text document, or even a ZIP file sometimes. However, when you click to view this file, you activate this vicious program and it starts its operations on your system right away. In other words, there is no way back once you open this attached file. This also means that it is not possible to delete Kerkoporta Ransomware without damaging your files if you are that unlucky to have the fully working version. By the time you would realize what has hit you, it would be too late because the whole encryption process may take as little as a few minutes tops.
This is why you need to be more careful around your mails and realize that even spam filters can make mistakes. If you are not sure about a mail and its content, you should check with its sender if it was really meant for you. Never open attachments unless you are certain that they are for you personally or you have been expecting to get them. It is also possible that you have a remote desktop program install on your computer. If this program is not properly configured, such criminals can find a way to break into your system even if by using brute force attacks. Once they have access to your PC, they can easily let this ransomware loose and it may also infect all other computers connected to yours. We also advise you to keep all your browsers and Java and Flash drivers up-to-date in order to avoid infection via Exploit Kits.
How does Kerkoporta Ransomware work?
After you click to view the malicious attachment, it creates a copy of itself ("[random].exe") in "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Update Protocol" and also drops "UpData.bat" and "Updates.data" files in this folder. In addition to these files, this threat also creates a WindowsUpdates.lnk file in your "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" folder, which ensures that this infection autoruns whenever you restart your system. If you have been hit by the full version, your important files are targeted for encryption and they get a ".encryptedsadly" extension. If your files have been damaged, you will also experience a screen lock to make it more dramatic and believable that you have no other choice but pay the ransom fee.
This ransomware seems to be originated from Greece, which is confirmed by its ransom note screen, which is in Greek. It seems though that you can change to English by pressing the respective button on this screen. You are instructed to buy an Amazon gift card worth 100 US dollars and send its PIN by entering it in the designated field and pressing the Send button. These criminals promise to send you the decryption key via e-mail, however, there is no way they would actually know your e-mail address unless they stole it somehow. We do not believe that these attackers would actually send you anything anyway. When it comes to ransomware programs, it is always risky to contact such criminals or to send them money. We recommend that you do not hesitate to remove Kerkoporta Ransomware.
How can I delete Kerkoporta Ransomware?
If your screen is locked, you can always try to close the active window by tapping Alt+F4. If this does not work, you can try to change the active window by tapping Alt+Tab. If this fails too, you can still tap Ctrl+Shit+Esc to bring up the Task Manager window and manually end the malicious process. Then, you can locate and delete all related malicious files and folders. Please follow our guide below if you feel up to this task. As you can see, you can easily infect your system with even such a dangerous threat if you are not careful enough. But it also does not make too much sense to become paranoid in your virtual world, which would ruin the whole experience for you. This is why we suggest that you protect your PC with a professional malware removal application like SpyHunter to deal with all possible threats automatically.
Remove Kerkoporta Ransomware from Windows
- Open File Explorer by tapping Win+E simultaneously.
- Delete all the suspicious files you have downloaded lately from all your download folders.
- Delete the "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Update Protocol" folder.
- Search all these startup locations and delete "WindowsUpdates.lnk":
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
%USERPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup - Empty the Recycle Bin and reboot your system.
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