An interesting ransomware virus has been detected out into the wild. Unlike conventional ransom infections of the lockscreen type, this virus does not want money, but asks the victims to complete various surveys. This is a very interesting concept and it is unique by it’s kind because it was present primarily in unwanted programs such as adware and browser hijackers up to this point. What researchers believe FileIce does is it displays the user surveys and locks the screen primarily because those surveys may help collect information for certain interests or make profit via survey schemes. Anyone who has fallen into the trap of FileIce and has gotten their computers infected by this malware should be advised that the virus can be removed. We advise you to read this article for more information on FileIce and to learn how to remove the malware completely from your computer.

Threat Summary

Name	FileIce
Type	Lockscreen Ransomware
Short Description	The virus heavily modifies the registry entries of the victim computer allowing it to administratively lock the screen.
Symptoms	If you are infected with FileIce you may see a prompt asking you to choose which survey you want to complete in order to get access back to your computer. Getting access back after completing the survey is not guaranteed.
Distribution Method	Via an Exploit kit, Dll file attack, malicious JavaScript or a drive-by download of the malware itself in an obfuscated manner.
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by FileIce Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join our forum to Discuss FileIce Ransomware.

How Is FileIce Distributed

FileIce may undertake several very specific methods to spread it’s files. The primary spreading technique it uses is via spammed e-mail messages that may contain two types of infectors:

• Malcious attachments that are usually in a .zip or .rar archives.
• Malicious URLs that cause infection by inducing a forced browser redirect after being clicked on.

And the message itself seems like your average spam message as well. It may appear as if it is sent by someone important, like banking manager or social media website, like a fake Facebook request for example. There are also cases where the file attachments may appear like an invoice, receipt or another important document. However, they are do not even come close to being legitimate and once opened, the infection process begins.

What Does FileIce Do?

FileIce(dot net) is originally a legitimate service for completing online surveys and receiving different type of rewards for them. The service legitimately offers financial compensation for completed surveys. Here is what the website promises:

The virus, cleverly enough is designed to infect your computer and begin to heavily modify the registry entries of it. The registry keys it may attack could be associated with:

• Boot options. (Run and RunOnce keys)
• Windows Lockscreen registry keys.
• Registry keys for a screensaver or wallpaper.

After some or all of those keys are modified by FileIce, the virus sets path to malicious modules that directly display it’s lockscreen message, seemingly blocking all access of the user to his or her computer:

The locked screen displays a menu from which victims can choose what type of service to complete and it is even coded to connect them to those surveys while their computer remains locked:

FileIce Lockscreen – Summary and Removal

To put it in perspective, the ransomware creator of this virus hopes for a low-risk type of profit via FileIce survey schemes and he relies primarily on the victims that are infected to complete the surveys. It is not guaranteed that you will restore your access to your computer after you complete one or more surveys and this is why it is recommended to take a different type of approach and remove FileIce from your computer.

You can achieve the successful removal of FileIce by performing several different activities. One of those is to immediately boot your computer in safe mode, to disable third-party software from running and only enable crucial to windows processes. This will grand you temporary administrative access to your computer. We have posted instructions below on how to successfully boot your computer into safe mode.

After you have booted you can choose from the steps below wether you want to hunt for the files and registry entries belonging to FileIce manually or you want to do it automatically with an anti-malware scanner. Malware researchers and security experts always recommend choosing the second options because scanning your computer for malware will help detect all associated objects with FileIce and remove your locked screen. Not only this but, it will also detect other malware that may have also infected your computer, remove it as well and protect your system against future threats.

Manually delete FileIce from your computer

Note! Substantial notification about the FileIce threat: Manual removal of FileIce requires interference with system files and registries. Thus, it can cause damage to your PC. Even if your computer skills are not at a professional level, don’t worry. You can do the removal yourself just in 5 minutes, using a malware removal tool.

1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove FileIce files and objects

Boot Your PC Into Safe Mode

1. For Windows 7,XP and Vista. 2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Fix registry entries created by FileIce on your PC.

For Windows XP, Vista, 7 systems:

1. Remove all CDs and DVDs, and then Restart your PC from the “Start” menu.
2. Select one of the two options provided below:

– For PCs with a single operating system: Press “F8” repeatedly after the first boot screen shows up during the restart of your computer. In case the Windows logo appears on the screen, you have to repeat the same task again.

– For PCs with multiple operating systems: Тhe arrow keys will help you select the operating system you prefer to start in Safe Mode. Press “F8” just as described for a single operating system.

3. As the “Advanced Boot Options” screen appears, select the Safe Mode option you want using the arrow keys. As you make your selection, press “Enter“.

4. Log on to your computer using your administrator account

While your computer is in Safe Mode, the words “Safe Mode” will appear in all four corners of your screen.

Step 1: Open the Start Menu

Step 2: Whilst holding down Shift button, click on Power and then click on Restart.
Step 3: After reboot, the aftermentioned menu will appear. From there you should choose Troubleshoot.

Step 4: You will see the Troubleshoot menu. From this menu you can choose Advanced Options.

Step 5: After the Advanced Options menu appears, click on Startup Settings.

Step 6: Click on Restart.

Step 7: A menu will appear upon reboot. You should choose Safe Mode by pressing its corresponding number and the machine will restart.

Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries of your computer to change different settings. This is why manual clean up of your Windows Registry Database is strongly recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit lenghty, we recommend following our instructive article about fixing registry entries.

2.Find malicious files created by FileIce on your PC

Find malicious files created by FileIce

1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. 2. For Windows 7,XP and Vista.

For Newer Windows Operating Systems

Step 1:

On your keyboard press  + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.

Step 2:

Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.

Step 3:

Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:

N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.

For Older Windows Operating Systems

In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:

Step 1:

Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.

Step 2:

After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.

Step 3:

After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.

Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.

Automatically remove FileIce by downloading an advanced anti-malware program

1. Remove FileIce with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data

Remove FileIce with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove FileIce.2. Scan with SpyHunter to Detect and Remove FileIce. Back up your data to secure it against infections and file encryption by FileIce in the future.

Step 1:Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.

Download

Malware Removal Tool

It is highly recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter.

Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.
Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to automatically update.

Step1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Scan Computer Now’ button.

Step2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any FileIce files, click on the ‘Fix Threats’ button to remove them automatically and permanently.

Step3: Once the intrusions on your PC have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart it.

Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future

IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data automatically with cloud backup and insure it against any type of data loss on your device, even the most severe. We recommend reading more about and downloading SOS Online Backup .

SOS Online Backup

Optional: Using Alternative Anti-Malware Tools

Remove FileIce Using Other Alternative Tools

STOPZilla Anti Malware

1. Download and Install STOPZilla Anti-malware to Scan for And Remove FileIce.
Step 1: Download STOPZilla by clicking here.
Step 2: A pop-up window will appear. Click on the ‘Save File’ button. If it does not, click on the Download button and save it afterwards.

Step 3: After you have downloaded the setup, simply open it.
Step 4: The installer should appear. Click on the ‘Next’ button.

Step 5: Check the ‘I accept the agreement’ check circle if not checked if you accept it and click the ‘Next’ button once again.

Step 6: Review and click on the ‘Install’ button.

Step 7: After the installation process has completed click on the ‘Finish’ button.

2. Scan your PC with STOPZilla Anti Malware to remove all FileIce associated files completely.
Step 1: Launch STOPZilla if you haven’t launched it after install.
Step 2: Wait for the software to automatically scan and then click on the ‘Repair Now’ button. If it does not scan automatically, click on the ‘Scan Now’ button.

Step 3: After the removal of all threats and associated objects, you should Restart your PC.

Vencislav Krustev

A network administrator and malware researcher at SensorsTechForum with passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cyber security. Strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

More Posts - Website