Skull HT Ransomware

Posted by Sarah Stewart on November 14, 2017

What is Skull HT Ransomware?

Skull HT Ransomware is one of those ransomware infections that infiltrate users’ computers without their knowledge. Although they usually do not know anything about the entrance of this ransomware infection, they quickly realize that they have malicious software on their computers because they discover their files encrypted and see a picture with a green skull set as Desktop background. If you are sure that this malicious application has entered your computer too and already applied changes, you need to erase this infection right away. Skull HT Ransomware is a new HiddenTear-based threat, i.e., it has been developed on the basis of Hidden-Tear, open-source ransomware, so it should not be very hard to delete it from the system. Even though this infection does not have a point of execution, i.e, it will not open automatically on startup, you are still not allowed to keep it on your computer because you might open its executable file again. If it happens, the chances are high that it will lock your music, documents, text files, and other valuable files once again. Ransomware infections do this so that they could obtain money from users easier, but you should definitely not pay money to cyber criminals behind this ransomware infection. As mentioned above, better focus on the full removal of this nasty infection. test test test

What does Skull HT Ransomware do?

All users who discover Skull HT Ransomware on their computers also find a bunch of their files encrypted because this ransomware infection locks users’ personal files the first thing after the successful entrance. Your all files will receive a new extension .locked and, on top of that, you might find a new picture set as Desktop background. Last but not least, the ransomware infection checks if the file %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\READ_ME.txt.locked already exists. If yes, it deletes it and then drops %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\READ_ME.txt, which is a ransom note. You can read this file to find out what has happened to your files and how you can get them back, but you should definitely not transfer money to cyber criminals. Yes, you will be asked to pay 0.00156 BTC for the special decryption key and tool. Believe us, it is a bad idea to make a payment because you do not know whether you could decrypt your files after you send money to them. We suspect that you are not only looking for a way to delete the ransomware infection from your system, but also want to find a way how to decrypt your files for free. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to get your pictures, documents, music, and other encrypted files back. You can only restore these encrypted files from a backup. Sadly, you could not do this if you have never backed up your files.

Without a doubt, Skull HT Ransomware goes to encrypt users’ files the first thing, but we have to tell you that it is not the only activity it performs on victims’ machines. It has been observed that it also checks if the computer is connected to the Internet and sends details about victims to its C&C server. It will stop performing all these activities on your computer only if you delete it, so our recommendation for you would be to erase it fully from your system today.

Where does Skull HT Ransomware come from?

Before we talk about the Skull HT Ransomware removal in detail, we should analyze how ransomware infections usually arrive on users’ computers so that it would be easier for you to prevent similar infections from entering the system. Specialists at anti-spyware-101.com say that a bunch of ransomware infections seeking to obtain money from users are spread as attachments in spam emails. Skull HT Ransomware is no exception. When the malicious attachment is opened by the user and the ransomware infection is executed, it deletes itself but creates its copy (%HOMEDRIVE%\user\Rand123\local.exe). Without a doubt, it tries to stay longer on users’ computers. Luckily, it is not one of those threats that make modifications in the system registry or block system utilities, but if you keep your PC unprotected, it is only a question of time when you encounter more sophisticated threats.

How to remove Skull HT Ransomware

If Skull HT Ransomware has infiltrated your computer, you must delete it as soon as possible. You should not find its removal very complicated if you follow our removal instructions; however, you should know that your files will stay encrypted. As mentioned previously, you could restore them for free from a backup only. Theoretically, a free decryption tool might be released one day too, but we cannot promise that this will happen soon.