Esmeralda ransomware is believed to be a new variant of the Apocalypse cryptovirus. The new strain uses the same domain for an e-mail contact and encrypts files by placing the same extension. That extension is .encrypted and is placed on each locked file. The AES algorithm is used for the encryption process. To see how to remove the ransomware and how you can try to decrypt your files, carefully read the article.
Threat Summary
| Name | Esmeralda |
| Type | Ransomware, Cryptovirus |
| Short Description | The ransomware encrypts your files and then displays a ransom note with demand instructions. |
| Symptoms | Your files will become encrypted and inaccessible. The .encrypted extension will be appended to all of them. |
| Distribution Method | Spam Emails, Email Attachments |
| Detection Tool |
See If Your System Has Been Affected by malware
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Malware Removal Tool
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User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss Esmeralda. |
| Data Recovery Tool | 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. |
Esmeralda Ransomware – Infection
The Esmeralda ransomware can infiltrate your computer system in a number of ways. The payload file could be spreading through spam e-mails. Spam mail is made in such a way that is presented to you as something of crucial importance or like surprising news. The focus is put on the attachment, and while you don’t think about whether the letter is telling the truth or not, you open that attached file. Inside, the malicious content is released, and your computer machine is infected. The payload file in most cases is an executable or a Trojan horse, and you can see an example of such a file on the VirusTotal database:
Esmeralda ransomware could infect your device in other ways. For example, the malware creators could be delivering the files via social media networks and file-share websites. The malicious file might be hosted on one of these platforms with the goal of infecting more unsuspecting users. Refrain from opening unknown links and files from dubious sources. Do an initial scan with a security application and check their signature and size beforehand. You should read the ransomware prevention tips in the STF forum.
Esmeralda Ransomware – Information
A ransomware cryptovirus has been found a few days back, which goes by the name of Esmeralda. Malware researchers from Emsisoft believe that it is a variant of the Apocalypse ransomware.
It will encrypt your files and after that put the extension .encrypted to each of them. Instructions with demands will be written in a text file and also launched as a ransom message on your screen after the encryption process is finished.
When the Esmeralda ransomware executes its payload, it could create entries inside the Windows Registry for achieving persistence. Those registry entries are created to make the virus launch automatically with every boot of the Windows operating system. What follows is that your data becomes encrypted, and then the ransom note shows up on your desktop screen. The ransom message is contained inside a file named How_To_Decrypt.txt.
You can see the ransom message from the below screenshot:
The message reads the following:
Windows has encountered a critical problem and needs your immediate action to recover your data. The system access is locked and all the data have been encrypted to avoid the information be published or misused. You will not be able to access to your files and ignoring this message may cause the total loss of data. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
You need to contact the email below to restore the data of your system.
Email: esmeraldaencryption@mail.ru
You will have to order the Unlock-Password and the Esmeralda Decryption Software. All the
instructions will be sent to you by email.
No further instructions are given unless you contact the email address and write to the crooks. The ransom note is English and doesn’t appear to target specific users. The contact email is in Russian, and the instructions are to write to the provided e-mail. However, you should NOT, in any case, think of contacting the criminals or paying them. No one can guarantee you that by paying you will get your data restored. Adding to that the cybercriminals will probably invest the money in other ransomware viruses or more criminal activities.
The Esmeralda ransomware encrypts files while appending the .encrypted extension to them. The encryption process utilizes the AES encryption algorithm according to researchers. For now, this new variant of the Apocalypse ransomware does not seem decryptable.
The Esmeralda cryptovirus is very likely to delete the Shadow Volume Copies from the Windows operating system via the following command:
→vssadmin.exe delete shadows /all /Quiet
Read further to see what types of methods you can try to possibly restore some of your data.
Remove Esmeralda Ransomware and Restore .encrypted Files
If your computer got infected with the Esmeralda ransomware virus, you should have some experience in removing malware. You should get rid of this ransomware as fast as possible before it can have the chance to spread further and infect more computers. You should remove the ransomware and follow the step-by-step instructions guide given below. To see ways that you can try to recover your data, see the step titled 2. Restore files encrypted by Esmeralda.
Attention! SensorsTechForum strongly recommends that all malware victims should look for assistance only by reputable sources. Many guides out there claim to offer free recovery and decryption for files encrypted by ransomware viruses. Be advised that some of them may only be after your money.
As a site that has been dedicated to providing free removal instructions for ransomware and malware since 2014, SensorsTechForum’s recommendation is to only pay attention to trustworthy sources.
How to recognize trustworthy sources:
- Always check "About Us" web page.
- Profile of the content creator.
- Make sure that real people are behind the site and not fake names and profiles.
- Verify Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter personal profiles.
About the Esmeralda Research
The content we publish on SensorsTechForum.com, this Esmeralda how-to removal guide included, is the outcome of extensive research, hard work and our team’s devotion to help you remove the specific malware and restore your encrypted files.
How did we conduct the research on this ransomware?
Our research is based on an independent investigation. We are in contact with independent security researchers, and as such, we receive daily updates on the latest malware and ransomware definitions.
Furthermore, the research behind the Esmeralda ransomware threat is backed with VirusTotal and the NoMoreRansom project.
To better understand the ransomware threat, please refer to the following articles which provide knowledgeable details.
References
1. How to Recognize Spam Emails with Ransomware
2. How Does Ransomware Encryption Work?
3. How to Decrypt Ransomware Files
4. Ransomware Getting Greedier and Bigger, Attacks Increase by 40%
5. 1 in 5 Americans Victim of Ransomware
How to Remove Esmeralda from Windows.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Esmeralda
1. Hold Windows Key + R.
2. The "Run" Window will appear. In it, type "msconfig" and click OK.
3. Go to the "Boot" tab. There select "Safe Boot" and then click "Apply" and "OK".
4. When prompted, click on "Restart" to go into Safe Mode.
5. You can recognise Safe Mode by the words written on the corners of your screen.
Step 2: Uninstall Esmeralda and related software from Windows
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
1. Hold the Windows Logo Button and "R" on your keyboard. A Pop-up window will appear.
2. In the field type in "appwiz.cpl" and press ENTER.
3. This will open a window with all the programs installed on the PC. Select the program that you want to remove, and press "Uninstall"
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.
Step 3: Clean any registries, created by Esmeralda on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by Esmeralda there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
1. Open the Run Window again, type "regedit" and click OK.
2. When you open it, you can freely navigate to the Run and RunOnce keys, whose locations are shown above.
3. You can remove the value of the virus by right-clicking on it and removing it.
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click "Modify" to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.
Before starting "Step 4", please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for Esmeralda with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
1. Click on the "Download" button to proceed to SpyHunter's download page.
2. After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.
3. After the update process has finished, click on the 'Malware/PC Scan' tab. A new window will appear. Click on 'Start Scan'.
4. 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.
Video Guide for Automatic and Fast Removal
Step 5 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Esmeralda.
Ransomware infections and Esmeralda aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
1. Download the recommended Data Recovery software by clicking on the link underneath:
Simply click on the link and on the website menus on the top, choose Data Recovery - Data Recovery Wizard for Windows or Mac (depending on your OS), and then download and run the tool.
Step 6: How to Restore Files Encrypted by Ransomware (Video Guide)
Get rid of Esmeralda from Mac OS X.
Step 1: Uninstall Esmeralda and remove related files and objects
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
2. Find Activity Monitor and double-click it:
3. In the Activity Monitor look for any suspicious processes, belonging or related to Esmeralda:
4. Click on the "Go" button again, but this time select Applications. Another way is with the ⇧+⌘+A buttons.
5. In the Applications menu, look for any suspicious app or an app with a name, similar or identical to Esmeralda. If you find it, right-click on the app and select “Move to Trash
”.
6. Select Accounts, after which click on the Login Items preference.
Your Mac will then show you a list of items that start automatically when you log in. Look for any suspicious apps identical or similar to Esmeralda. Check the app you want to stop from running automatically and then select on the Minus (“-“) icon to hide it.
7. Remove any left-over files that might be related to this threat manually by following the sub-steps below:
- Go to Finder.
- In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
- Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
- If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.
In case you cannot remove Esmeralda via Step 1 above:
In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:
1: Click on "Go" and Then "Go to Folder" as shown underneath:
2: Type in "/Library/LauchAgents/" and click Ok:
3: Delete all of the virus files that have similar or the same name as Esmeralda. If you believe there is no such file, do not delete anything.
You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:
→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.
Step 3 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Esmeralda.
Ransomware infections and Esmeralda aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
1. Download the recommended Data Recovery software by clicking on the link underneath:
Simply click on the link and on the website menus on top, choose Data Recovery - Data Recovery Wizard for Windows or Mac (depending on your OS), and then download and run the tool.
Esmeralda FAQ
What is Esmeralda ransomware and how does it work?
Esmeralda is a ransomware infection - the malicious software that enters your computer silently and blocks either access to the computer itself or encrypt your files.
Many ransomware viruses use sophisticated encryption algorithm how to make your files inaccessible. The goal of ransomware infections is to demand that you pay a ransom payment to get access to your files back.
How does Esmeralda ransomware infect my computer?
Via several ways.Esmeralda Ransomware infects computers by being sent via phishing e-mails, containing virus attachment.
This attachment is usually masked as an important document, like an invoice, bank document or even a plane ticket and it looks very convincing to users.
After you download and execute this attachment, a drive-by download occurs and your computer is infected with the ransomware virus.
Another way, you may become a victim of Esmeralda is if you download a fake installer, crack or patch from a low reputation website or if you click on a virus link. Many users report getting a ransomware infection by downloading torrents.
How to open .Esmeralda files?
You can't. At this point the .Esmeralda files are encrypted. You can only open them once they are decrypted.
Decryptor did not decrypt my data. What now?
Do not panic and backup the files. If a decryptor did not decrypt your .Esmeralda files successfully, then do not despair, because this virus is still new.
One way to restore files, encrypted by Esmeralda ransomware is to use a decryptor for it. But since it's a new virus, advised that the decryption keys for it may not be out yet and available to the public. We will update this article and keep you posted as soon as this decryptor is released.
How Do I restore ".Esmeralda" files (Other Methods)?
Yes, sometimes files can be restored. We have suggested several file recovery methods that could work if you want to restore .Esmeralda files.
These methods are in no way 100% guarantee that you will be able to get your files back. But if you have a backup, your chances of success are much greater.
How do I get rid of Esmeralda ransomware virus?
The safest way and the most efficient one for the removal of this ransomware infection is the use a professional anti malware software. It will scan for and locate Esmeralda ransomware and then remove it without causing any additional harm to your important .Esmeralda files.
Also, keep in mind that viruses like Esmeralda ransomware also install Trojans and keyloggers that can steal your passwords and accounts. Scanning your computer with an anti-malware software will make sure that all of these virus components are removed and your computer is protected in the future.
What to Do If nothing works?
There is still a lot you can do. If none of the above methods seem to work for you, then try these methods:
- Try to find a safe computer from where you can can login on your own line accounts like One Drive, iDrive, Google Drive and so on.
- Try to contact your friends, relatives and other people so that they can check if they have some of your important photos or documents just in case you sent them.
- Also, check if some of the files that were encrypted it can be re-downloaded from the web.
- Another clever way to get back some of your files is to find another old computer, a flash drive or even a CD or a DVD where you may have saved your older documents. You might be surprised what will turn up.
- You can also go to your email account to check if you can send any attachments to other people. Usually what is sent the email is saved on your account and you can re-download it. But most importantly, make sure that this is done from a safe computer and make sure to remove the virus first.
More tips you can find on our forums, where you can also asks any questions about your ransomware problem.
How to Report Ransomware to Authorities?
In case your computer got infected with a ransomware infection, you can report it to the local Police departments. It can help authorities worldwide track and determine the perpetrators behind the virus that has infected your computer. Below, we have prepared a list with government websites, where you can file a report in case you are a victim of a cybercrime:
Cyber-security authorities, responsible for handling ransomware attack reports in different regions all over the world:
- Germany - Offizielles Portal der deutschen Polizei
- United States - IC3 Internet Crime Complaint Centre
- United Kingdom - Action Fraud Police
- France - Ministère de l'Intérieur
- Italy - Polizia Di Stato
- Spain - Policía Nacional
- Netherlands - Politie
- Poland - Policja
- Portugal - Polícia Judiciária
- Greece - Cyber Crime Unit (Hellenic Police)
- India - Mumbai Police - CyberCrime Investigation Cell
- Australia - Australian High Tech Crime Center
Reports may be responded to in different timeframes, depending on your local authorities.