Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Note! Your computer might be affected by PedCont Ransomware and other threats.
Threats such as PedCont Ransomware may be persistent on your system. They tend to re-appear if not fully deleted. A malware removal tool like SpyHunter will help you to remove malicious programs, saving you the time and the struggle of tracking down numerous malicious files. SpyHunter’s scanner is free but the paid version is needed to remove the malware threats. Read SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
This article as been created in order to help explain what is the PedCont ransomware virus and how to remove this malware from your computer plus how to restore files, encrypted by it.
The PedCont ransowmare is a virus which claims to encrypt the files on your computer, making them no longer usable after which the malware starts to encrypt the files on your computer. In addition to this, the ransomware also leaves behind a ransom note file, whose primary purpose is to get victims to pay a hefty ransom in order to get the encrypted files to work once again. If your computer has been infected by the PedCont ransomware virus, keep reading this article. It will show you how you can remove this ransomware infection from your computer and how you can restore the files, encrypted by it on your computer.
Threat Summary
Name
PedCont Ransomware
Type
Ransomware, Cryptovirus
Short Description
Aims to encrypt the files on your computer, while dropping a ransom note which asks you to pay a hefty ransom to get the files recovered back to normal.
Symptoms
Files may no longer be able to be opened and a ransom note appears on the user’s computer, shortly after the screen of the victim goes black.
Distribution Method
Spam Emails, Email Attachments, Executable files
Detection Tool
See If Your System Has Been Affected by PedCont Ransomware
Windows Data Recovery by Stellar Phoenix Notice! This product scans your drive sectors to recover lost files and it may not recover 100% of the encrypted files, but only few of them, depending on the situation and whether or not you have reformatted your drive.
Pedcont Ransomware – Distribution
The PedCont ransomware virus is the type of malware, whose primary purpose is to infect you unnoticed and conduct it’s activities without you being able to stop the virus. To reach this end goal, the ransomware virus may perform series of unwanted activities on the victim’s computer, the main of which are reported to be via malicious e-mail attachments or URLs posted on the e-mails themselves. The e-mails that may be sent to the victims may aim to get them to open the attachments, while portraying them as important documents, such as invoices as well as other documents that must be opened immediately.
In addition to via e-mail, the PedCont ransomware virus may also spread by being uploaded on websites, while posing as a file which claims to be a seemingly legitimate type of software installer or some kind of a software license activator, whose main goal is to claim to help you activate your OS, a game or a program.
PedCont Ransomware – More Information
As soon as PedCont ransomware has infected your computer system, the virus may drop it’s payload files, which in their turn may reside in the following Windows directories:
%AppData%
%Local%
%LocalLow%
%Roaming%
%Temp%
Among the payload of PedCont ransomware is it’s main malicious file, detected(4ee60e0221726dbbe2da563c4d175b57d7b51e9e83e2c4b78364fba2272121c2) by security researchers to be the following:
In addition to this, among the files dropped by this virus is also it’s ransom note type of file, whose primary purpose is to get victims to pay a hefty ransom fee in order to recover their files. The ransom note appears like the following:
Text from image:
ATTENTION H! – Please read this immediately:
Dear potential criminal,
Due to you actively seeking out child pornography or similarly illegal content on the Deep Web, you have been infected with our ransomware called PedCont.
WHAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED:
All of your sensitive data, location and files – pictures, videos, documents, etc. – have been auto-collected and saved to an external server and will be stored & protected for the next 72 hours (counting from the first time you see this message). If we do not receive any cooperation from your part once the time is up, international authorities WILL be contacted and sent detailed information about everything that we have scraped from your computer.
While it is no longer necessary for this program to stay on your computer, should you wish to prevent legal prosecution and safely get rid of our records, do NOT manually remove it, but instead follow the steps listed below:
WHAT WE REQUIRE OF YOU:
In addition to this, the ransomware virus also aims to perform series of other unwanted activities on the victim’s computer, such as extract informtion from it in order to check whether or not it is running in a virtual environment. In addition to this, the ransomware infection may also delete the volume shadow copies from the victim’s computer, preferrably by executing a script. This script makes it possible to run Windows Command Prompt as an administrator and then focus on performing various different types of methods and activities on the user’s computer
PedCont Ransomware – Encryption Process
PedCont ransomware has been classified as a destructive ransomware type by cyber-sec researchers(https://twitter.com/leotpsc/status/1003517608283369472) with allegations that the ransomware aims to delete the display drivers on the computers infected by it and allegedly encrypting the important files on the victim’s cpomputer. The encryption process of PedCont ransomware virus is conducted by firstly checking for the types of files that are targeted for encryption, which are usually often used file types, such as:
After this is done, the files on the computer that has been infected are no longer openable and the victim is accused of performing online crime. The only way ot seems to be following the instructions and paying the ransom, which is highly inadvisable.
Remove PedCont Ransomware and Restore Encrypted Files
If you have unfortunately been infected by PedCont ransomware virus, we advise that you read the manual and automatic instructions underneath in order to learn ow to remove this malware from your computer. If manual removal of this threat does not seem to work out for you, we recommend that you remove it automatically, preferrably by downloading and running a scan with an advanced anti-malware software, as most security experts recommend. Such program will make sure to remove PedCont ransomware automatially from your computer and make sure to ensure that future protection is guaranteed as well.
If you want to restore files that have been encrypted by this ransomware infection, we advise that you try out the alternative methods underneath in step “2. Restore files, encrypted by PedCont” ransomware. They are in no way 100% guarantee to be able to recover all of your files, but with their aid you may be able to recover most of the encrypted files.
Note! Your computer system may be affected by PedCont Ransomware and other threats. Scan Your PC with SpyHunter SpyHunter is a powerful malware removal tool designed to help users with in-depth system security analysis, detection and removal of threats such as PedCont Ransomware. Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
To remove PedCont Ransomware follow these steps:
1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove PedCont Ransomware files and objects
OFFER
Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!
We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter
Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria
Boot Your PC Into Safe Mode
1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7. 2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.
For Windows XP, Vista and 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 up the Start Menu.
Step 2: Click on the Power button (for Windows 8 it is the little arrow next to the “Shut Down” button) and whilst holding down “Shift” click on Restart.
Step 3: After reboot, a blue menu with options will appear. From them you should choose Troubleshoot.
Step 4: You will see the Troubleshoot menu. From this menu choose Advanced Options.
Step 5: After the Advanced Options menu appears, click on Startup Settings.
Step 6: From the Startup Settings menu, click on Restart.
Step 7: A menu will appear upon reboot. You can choose any of the three Safe Mode options by pressing its corresponding number and the machine will restart.
Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries on your computer to change different settings. This is why cleaning your Windows Registry Database is recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit long and tampering with registries could damage your computer if not done properly you should refer and follow our instructive article about fixing registry entries, especially if you are unexperienced in that area.
2. Find files created by PedCont Ransomware on your PC
Find files created by PedCont Ransomware
1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. 2. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
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.
Use SpyHunter to scan for malware and unwanted programs
3. Scan for malware and unwanted programs with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Scan your PC and Remove PedCont Ransomware with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for PedCont Ransomware and remove them.2. Scan with SpyHunter, Detect and Remove PedCont Ransomware. Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.
Step 1: Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.
It is 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. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.
Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.
Step 1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.
Step 2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.
Step 3: If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.
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 with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats. We recommend you to read more about it and to download SOS Online Backup.
4. Try to Restore files encrypted by PedCont Ransomware
Try to Restore Files Encrypted by PedCont Ransomware
Ransomware infections and PedCont Ransomware aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested several alternative methods that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that these methods may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
Method 1: Scanning your drive’s sectors by using Data Recovery software. Another method for restoring your files is by trying to bring back your files via data recovery software. Here are some suggestions for preferred data recovery software solutions:
Method 2: Trying Kaspersky and EmsiSoft’s decryptors. If the first method does not work, we suggest trying to use decryptors for other ransomware viruses, in case your virus is a variant of them. The two primary developers of decryptors are Kaspersky and EmsiSoft, links to which we have provided below:
To restore your data in case you have backup set up, it is important to check for Volume Shadow Copies, if ransomware has not deleted them, in Windows using the below software:
Method 4: Finding the decryption key while the cryptovirus sends it over a network via a sniffing tool.
Another way to decrypt the files is by using a Network Sniffer to get the encryption key, while files are encrypted on your system. A Network Sniffer is a program and/or device monitoring data traveling over a network, such as its internet traffic and internet packets. If you have a sniffer set before the attack happened you might get information about the decryption key. See how-to instructions below:
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
This article as been created in order to help explain what is the PedCont ransomware virus and how to remove this malware from your computer plus how to restore files, encrypted by it.
1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7.
2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.
Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for PedCont Ransomware and remove them.
Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.
