How to remove Red Cerber ransomware virus

Red Cerber continues following the steps of its predecessor

Red Cerber virus is the latest sample of notorious Cerber ransomware which wreaked havoc throughout the entire year of 2016 and continues doing the same in 2017. The developers of this destructive crypto-malware have managed to release already five versions of this cyber menace.^[1] Cerber 5.0.1 and Red Cerber ransomware are the latest versions. All of them are distinctive for certain characteristics, but all of them have been using almost identical ransom notes. The older variations had a tendency to delete shadow volume copies which shattered the last hope of data retrieval for users who did not back up their data. The latest version has some modifications. One of them – it does not delete shadow volume copies of the target files. In addition, this ransomware modifies some part of important system files right after the infiltration. These files include: msxml3.dll.Instructions, KERNELBASE.dll.mui, rsaenh.dll, WScript.exe, WScript.exe.mui, sortdefault.nls, wshom.ocx, etc. The ransom note is usually written in the red background rather than a green one. The extension which was added by the latest versions of Red Cerber ransomware is .ba99. If your file extensions were changed to this extension, you are, unfortunately, infected. Do not panic and concentrate on Red Cerber removal. For that you can use FortectIntego.

Taking a look back at the evolution story of Cerber, few might remember reports about the malware which targeted only specific countries. The original version contained flaws which limited Cerber’s capabilities. It needed to reboot a computer in order to paralyze it completely. However, it did not take long for the crooks to evolve the threat at lightning speed. They looked for various channels and techniques to boost up the traffic of the destructive infection. It even exploited browser vulnerabilities to infect computers^[2]. The more recent version bombarded users with fake credit card emails.

In comparison with other threats, the key change in Red Cerber malware is the disabled command to delete shadow volume copies^[3]. These are the copies which grant the chance to restore the lost files after a system crash or another unexpected data loss. Despite this ray of hope, Cerber still poses a decryption challenge for virus researchers. Since the appearance of the original version, IT experts have been able to devise a decryption software for the original version, but the latter versions remain undecryptable. Furthermore, Red Cerber ransomware contains a programmed preference to encode specific folders and files. The gearheads changed the number of encryptable extensions by excluding the following extensions: .bat, .cmd, .com, .cpl, .exe, .hta, .msc, .msi, .msp, .pif, .scf, .scr, and .sys. Though the virus retained a preference for .doc files, it added additional file formats to the list of overall 493 encryptable file extensions. In short, you should hurry up to remove Red Cerber.

How is the virtual infection spread?

The gearheads have been discovering new ways of infecting as many users as possible. Spam emails account for the biggest share of Red Cerber hijack cases. Usually, it comes as a fake report about the payment or billing warning from an ordinary email address which is supposedly sent from a female dresser. It does not require any specific features to spot mismatching and obvious mistakes. First of all, typos and spelling mistakes are a prevalent feature of ransomware spam emails ^[4]. What is more, the supposed addresser mismatches the credentials provided in the very message content. Furthermore, the cyber infection is spread via the help of exploit kits, specifically RIG and Nemucod^[5]. They might be encountered in corrupted websites, such as illegal file-sharing web pages. Note that Flash Player keeps being exploited by ransomware gearheads and Red Cerber developers did not miss the opportunity to use it as well.

Is it hard to remove Red Cerber?

If you are willing to fully exterminate Red Cerber virus, install an anti-spyware application such as FortectIntego or MalwarebytesMalwarebytes. Do not forget to update them before initiating the eradication process. It is possible that the malware might cause some Red Cerber removal problems. Here is when the following instructions come in handy. Note that only after you fully remove Red Cerber, data decryption might be performed.