How to remove J. Sterling ransomware

J. Sterling ransomware assaulted high school with fake surveys

J. Sterling virus is defined as a file-encrypting threat programmed to infiltrate J.Sterling Morton High School system.^[1] The malware was still in-development mode when it struck the school with a fake survey called “J. Sterling Student Survey”. Luckily, the malware did not encrypt any files.

For IT specialists, the GUI of the malware was quite suggestive of its origin; on the other hand, for students and employees of the school the survey might have seemed quite persuasive – the perpetrator used the logo and school-slogans. Considering this peculiarity and the fact that it did not encode any data implies that it might have been created as a prank by a student of the very school.

After entering the necessary data, student’s email and password, into the survey, the malware launched another GUI called “J. Sterling Ransomware.” It asked $10 in bitcoins. This sum was said to double if a victim failed to pay the money within 12 hours. The school was advised to remove J. Sterling ransomware. For that purpose, FortectIntego, MalwarebytesMalwarebytes or another malware elimination tool might come in handy.

Luckily, this time, the malware did not inflict much damage. On the other hand, the very fact that the malware developer was able so easily to break into the system was alarming. Next time, more serious hackers may penetrate the system.

For instance, at the end of October parents of certain schools in Flathead County, Montana received alarming messages threatening to kill students in the recipients’ children schools.^[2] Later on, the perpetrator turned out to be the Dark Overlord, the one responsible for ANC, Netflix and HBO hack.

Preventing ransomware assaults

These and previous cases of major data cases suggest that the virtual systems are still not properly protected. Low malware awareness^[3] and failure to reshuffle passwords after a while also contribute to the high number of ransomware assaults.

In order to evade J. Sterling ransomware hijack, these tips might help:

• educate your employees about the dangers of opening corrupted spam email attachments
• backup the data
• use complex passwords comprised of characters, letters, and numbers (do not write them down on a sticky note attached to a computer monitor)
• update system and security data regularly

Speaking of J. Sterling removal, it should not have been difficult. All what the school experts had to do was to run the scan in Safe Mode.

Eliminating J. Sterling ransomware

Threats similar to J. Sterling malware might also be labeled as screen lockers. ALT+F4 or specific combination unlocks the screen. After that, the victim should run an updated anti-virus tool and remove J. Sterling virus or similar threat.

Below instructions suggest how to run the computer in Safe Mode or perform System Restore. On the final note, be vigilant and do not forget to back up your data. After J. Sterling removal or elimination real file-encrypting virus, you may find some of the below-suggested programs practical.