How to remove [helprecover@foxmail.com].help ransomware

[helprecover@foxmail.com].help ransomware – malicious program designed to hold your files hostage

[helprecover@foxmail.com].help ransomware is a cryptovirus that belongs to a malware family known as Phobos. The malware locks all pictures, music, videos, documents, databases, and other files with the AES encryption algorithm, preventing any access to them. The main goal of cybercriminals is to extort money from victims – they ask for a ransom to be paid in exchange for the decryption key that could unlock all the data once applied.

As soon as the encryption is complete, [helprecover@foxmail.com].help file virus drops a ransom note, which comes in a popup window titled “phobos” or “encrypted.” In the note, the attackers explain what happened and that users need to pay an unspecified amount of money to be delivered in Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Apparently, the size of ransom depends on how fast victims send an email to criminals via helprecover@foxmail.com.

It was also reported by some victims that .help virus did not provide any ransom note after the data locking process. Despite this, security experts^[1] recommend avoiding contact with cybercriminals and using backups to recover files.

Phobos belongs to one of the most prevalent ransomware families in the wild, with variants such as Dever, Actor, and many others, being released on a regular basis.^[2] Malware usually delivers a ransom note in the HTA format, which is a popup window that looks very similar to those used by Dharma ransomware versions – a family it originates from.

Help ransomware can be distributed via various channels, as it is highly advertised on underground forums (meaning that many parties are participating in its distribution). Some of the most common methods include:

• Spam email attachments and malicious links;
• Software cracks, loaders, activators, repacked installers;
• Vulnerabilities and exploits;^[3]
• Networks and computers exposed to the internet, etc.

It is known that the [helprecover@foxmail.com].help file virus may bypass the User Account Control verification, so users can not stop the infection from spreading and finally locking the files. Malware shuts down several applications that might interfere with the encryption process, deletes Shadow Copies, and performs other Windows system changes – these can later be remediated automatically with tools such as FortectIntego if security software is not capable of doing so.

Help ransomware virus not only appends the .help extension to each of the files but uses the following pattern instead:

file name.file extension.id[XXXXXXXX-XXXX].[helprecover@foxmail.com].help

After data encryption, users can see that all the files can no longer be opened, appended with several new strings, and lost the original icons. The virus then drops a ransom note which reads:

All your files have been encrypted!

All your files have been encrypted due to a security problem with your PC. If you want to restore them, write us to the e-mail helprecover@foxmail.com
Write this ID in the title of your message 1R748D00-1076
If there is no response from our mail, you can install the Jabber client and write to us in support of
You have to pay for decryption in Bitcoins. The price depends on how fast you write to us. After payment we will send you the tool that will decrypt all your files.

Free decryption as guarantee
Before paying you can send us up to 5 files for free decryption. The total size of files must be less than 4Mb (non archived), and files should not contain valuable information. (databases,backups, large excel sheets, etc.)

How to obtain Bitcoins
The easiest way to buy bitcoins is LocalBitcoins site. You have to register, click 'Buy bitcoins', and select the seller by payment method and price.
https://localbitcoins.com/buy_bitcoins
Also you can find other places to buy Bitcoins and beginners guide here:
http://www.coindesk.com/information/how-can-i-buy-bitcoins/

Jabber client installation instructions:
Download the jabber (Pidgin) client from https://pidgin.im/download/windows/
After installation, the Pidgin client will prompt you to create a new account.
Click “Add”
In the “Protocol” field, select XMPP
In “Username” – come up with any name
In the field “domain” – enter any jabber-server, there are a lot of them, for example – exploit.im
Create a password
At the bottom, put a tick “Create account”
Click add
If you selected “domain” – exploit.im, then a new window should appear in which you will need to re-enter your data:
User password
You will need to follow the link to the captcha (there you will see the characters that you need to enter in the field below)
If you don't understand our Pidgin client installation instructions, you can find many installation tutorials on youtube – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pidgin+jabber+install

Attention!
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.

Unfortunately, but hackers are right about one thing: it is impossible to recover .help files without a unique key that is stored on their servers. As evident, they are not willing to provide the decryptor for free, and are likely to ask fora large sums of money. We recommend Help ransomware removal instead. You can also employ alternative methods for data recovery – check for more details in the next segment of the article.

To remove [helprecover@foxmail.com].help ransomware from your machine, we recommend using powerful anti-malware solutions, such as SpyHunterCombo Cleaner or MalwarebytesMalwarebytes. For more details on how to perform PC cleaning process, check the removal section below.

The only guaranteed method for .help file recovery are backups

 One of the main misconceptions that ransomware infected users have is that they can recover .help files as soon as they scan their systems with anti-malware. However, this is not the case at all, as security software is not designed to decrypt files but rather delete malicious files and other components from the computer. As long as a malicious program runs on the system, it will keep encrypting the incoming files, thus, it is vital to eliminate the infection before attempting the recovery process.

As evident, the best and most secure way to open [helprecover@foxmail.com].help files again is by restoring them from backups. Unfortunately, most users are not ready for a ransomware infection and end up germanely losing their files due to a lack of proper backups.

Even if you have no backups, not all is lost. Security researchers are constantly working on recovery tools that could help ransomware victims to restore their files. Unfortunately, the Phobos malware family is not decryptable yet, although it might be in the future.

As for now, if you have no backups and your data is affected with [helprecover@foxmail.com].help files virus, you can attempt alternative recovery solutions, such as Windows Previous Versions or third-party data recovery tools such as Data Recovery Pro. For more details, check out our recovery section below.

The correct method of [helprecover@foxmail.com].help ransomware removal

Immediate [helprecover@foxmail.com].help ransomware removal might permanently damage the encrypted data. In such a case, even a working decryption key would not be able to restore your files (note that this does not apply to you if you have a working backup). Thus, you should first make a copy of all the encrypted data – locked files do not hold any malicious code within them, so they are safe to copy.

Once you backup the encrypted .help files, you can then remove [helprecover@foxmail.com].help ransomware from your computer with the help of anti-malware software – we recommend using SpyHunterCombo Cleaner or MalwarebytesMalwarebytes for the job. Keep in mind that malware might have damaged Windows system files, so you could employ FortectIntego to prevent system crashes, errors, and other stability issues after infection removal.

Finally, attempt to restore your files using the solutions we provide below, although you should keep in mind that chance of success is relatively low (although never zero).