Skull Ransomware

Posted by Lisa Blanc on October 12, 2017

What is Skull Ransomware?

There are never enough warnings about programs like Skull Ransomware. It always seems that it can easily happen to someone else, but not to you. However, ransomware programs can easily enter your computer when you expect it the least. When you get infected with such a program, you can easily be forced into paying a huge ransom, but please keep in mind that there is no guarantee these criminals will really restore your files. Thus, your best option right now is to remove Skull Ransomware from your system and then protect your PC from similar intruders using a licensed antispyware tool.

Where does Skull Ransomware come from?

This infection is a rather generic ransomware program, and it means that it employs the most common distribution methods. According to the research, we carried out several months ago, the most common way for a ransomware program to enter your computer is spam email campaigns. Spam email campaigns are cheap, and while the infection rate might not be that high, there are always users who do fall for it, so the criminals keep on using it to spread the likes of Skull Ransomware.

Here you might say that it is easy to spot spam emails in your inbox, and there is no way in the world you would fall for this trick. True, most of the spam emails nowadays get filtered out before it even reaches your main inbox. Nevertheless, depending on your mail client, you may end up seeing several spam messages in your main inbox. Some of them can also be in some other languages you do not even speak (for instance, our team member has recently found a message in Portuguese in their inbox). So when that happens, the chances are you will ignore the message.

However, what if the message looks like something you were expecting to receive? For instance, there are spam emails that pretend to be invoices from online stores or reports from financial institutions. If you have been waiting for a report on your savings account balance, and suddenly something like that arrives in your inbox, you would feel inclined to click it. Please note that reputable companies seldom send important information in attachments you have to download and open. At the same time, if you feel that you simply must open the attached file, you can scan the file with a security program before opening it.

What does Skull Ransomware do?

Skull Ransomware is a ransomware program so it obviously does what any ransomware program would do: it encrypts a chunk of your personal files, and then requires a ransom fee for them. It says that if you transfer the payment immediately, it will issue the decryption key. However, we would like to point out that such claims are often false. Not that Skull Ransomware would not want to issue the decryption key. The problem is that programs like that often have very shaky servers that can often go offline. And even if you do transfer the payment, the ransomware may not be able to issue the key that would decrypt your files.

Therefore, you should not focus on the payment. Please close the ransom note and then focus on removing Skull Ransomware from your computer.

How do I remove Skull Ransomware?

It is very easy to delete Skull Ransomware from your system because the program does not drop any additional files. So you just need to remove the file that installed the program on your PC. For that, check your Downloads folder for the most recently downloaded files. If you save your downloaded files in some other directory, you should check that too. If you find the executable file, delete it.

After that, scan your system with a security tool to locate more unwanted and potentially harmful files. Please take note that malicious infections seldom come alone. Hence, you need to terminate all the other threats as well.

You should also delete the encrypted files before transferring healthy copies back to your drive. Where do you get the healthy copies? Normally, a lot of files get saved in your outbox. Also, you may have some online drive storage, or perhaps you save a lot of your files on your mobile device. If you have an external backup, it makes it even easier. The point is, there is always a way if you look for it.