Mr. Robot TV series has become the inspiration for malware writers to create a ransomware, called Fsociety. The virus aims to imitate a fictional hacking group from the famous TV series, just like Anonymous is. As much as we enjoy hearing new Mr. Robot news, this one is unfortunate, because the Fsociety ransomware uses an extremely strong encryption algorithm, called AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) to encrypt the files of users. Everyone who has been infected by this threat should read this article to learn how to remove the Fsociety crypto-virus and try to restore encrypted files by it.
Threat Summary
| Name | Fsociety Ransomware |
| Type | Ransomware |
| Short Description | Encrypts user files with AES cipher and RSA key and sets a wallpaper from the famous TV series Mr.Robot. |
| Symptoms | The user may witness changed wallpaper to an Fsociety mask and they may find their files to be unable to be opened. |
| Distribution Method | Via an Exploit kit, JavaScript or Trojan.Downloader |
| Detection Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Fsociety Ransomware Download Malware Removal Tool |
| User Experience | Join our forum to Discuss Fsociety Ransomware. |
| 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. |
Fsociety Ransomware – How Does It Spread
The creators of the Fsociety ransomware may use a different set of tools to replicate this virus. They may purchase spamming software that may distribute malicious URLs that may infect users using a JavaScript and drive-by-downloads by simply clicking on the URLs. Such URLs may be distributed in different ways, like referral spam, for instance. In addition to this, Fsociety ransomware may spread via malicious e-mail attachments, that are spam e-mails or phishing ones. The files may look like legitimate Microsoft Office documents. However, they are nothing like such, since they are disguised to get affected users to open them.
Fsociety Ransomware – More Information
Similar to Mr. Robot’s second season, Fsociety ransomware, uses strong encryption to hold the files of the victim’s computer hostage until a ransom payoff has been completed. When executed, Fsociety ransomware may drop it’s files in different places and under different names. The most often chosen names by malware writers are:
In addition to that, Fsociety ransomware is based on the EDA2 ransomware project which is an open source ransomware code uploaded online and created by Utku Sen. Since then, many variants of the EDA2 project have popped up, because all it takes is someone who knows coding to take this source code and design own version of ransomware, just like Fsociety ransomware variant is.
As soon as the Fsociety ransomware has infected a computer, it may begin encrypting files. The Fsociety virus may be pre-programmed to scan for a wide variety of file extensions which it encrypts. Some of those files may be the following:
→ “PNG .PSD .PSPIMAGE .TGA .THM .TIF .TIFF .YUV .AI .EPS .PS .SVG .INDD .PCT .PDF .XLR .XLS .XLSX .ACCDB .DB .DBF .MDB .PDB .SQL .APK .APP .BAT .CGI .COM .EXE .GADGET .JAR .PIF .WSF .DEM .GAM .NES .ROM .SAV CAD Files .DWG .DXF GIS Files .GPX .KML .KMZ .ASP .ASPX .CER .CFM .CSR .CSS .HTM .HTML .JS .JSP .PHP .RSS .XHTML. DOC .DOCX .LOG .MSG .ODT .PAGES .RTF .TEX .TXT .WPD .WPS .CSV .DAT .GED .KEY .KEYCHAIN .PPS .PPT .PPTX ..INI .PRF Encoded Files .HQX .MIM .UUE .7Z .CBR .DEB .GZ .PKG .RAR .RPM .SITX .TAR.GZ .ZIP .ZIPX .BIN .CUE .DMG .ISO .MDF .TOAST .VCD SDF .TAR .TAX2014 .TAX2015 .VCF .XML Audio Files .AIF .IFF .M3U .M4A .MID .MP3 .MPA .WAV .WMA Video Files .3G2 .3GP .ASF .AVI .FLV .M4V .MOV .MP4 .MPG .RM .SRT .SWF .VOB .WMV 3D .3DM .3DS .MAX .OBJ R.BMP .DDS .GIF .JPG ..CRX .PLUGIN .FNT .FON .OTF .TTF .CAB .CPL .CUR .DESKTHEMEPACK .DLL .DMP .DRV .ICNS .ICO .LNK .SYS .CFG”Source:fileinfo.com
The encrypted files are enciphered with a powerful AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption and the decryption key for them has been encoded in an RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman).
Related Article: Ransomware Encryption Explained – Why Is It So Effective?
The encrypted decryption key is then sent to the cyber-criminals’ command and control server where they have it along with a unique identification number for every user PC they have infected. After this, the wallpaper of the infected computer is changed to the famous Fsociety logo from the TV series Mr. Robot.
While the inspiration of the malware writers led them to choose a good TV series to base their ransomware on, this threat is one of the worse you can see out there. However, no matter how dire and bad the situation is, malware researchers advise users not to pay any ransom money if they see a ransom note asking them to contact the crooks for a payoff. This is due to several obvious reasons:
- You support the cyber-criminals by paying the ransom.
- There is no guarantee that you are going to get your files back.
Remove Fsociety Ransomware and Restore the Encoded Files
The ransomware virus should be removed by following the instructions after this article. Since Fsociety may modify the Windows Registry Editor and in addition to this create multiple files in different locations, malware researchers advise using an advanced anti-malware program to remove it, since it will make sure it is permanently remove without any damage to the encrypted files.
To restore files encrypted by Fsociety ransomware, users are strongly advised to make sure they backup the encrypted files and make copies if they try direct decryption. We have provided some alternatives to try and restore your files in step “3.Restore files encrypted by Fsociety Ransomware” below and advise you to take a look at them. They may not be 100 percent effective but in case you are lucky, haven’t reinstalled your OS and had backups, they may work for you.
Ventsislav Krastev
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.
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- Guide 1: How to Remove Fsociety Ransomware from Windows.
- Guide 2: Get rid of Fsociety Ransomware from Mac OS X.
How to Remove Fsociety Ransomware from Windows.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Fsociety Ransomware
Step 2: Uninstall Fsociety Ransomware 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:
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.Step 3: Clean any registries, created by Fsociety Ransomware 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 Fsociety Ransomware there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
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 Fsociety Ransomware with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Step 5 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Fsociety Ransomware.
Ransomware infections and Fsociety Ransomware 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.
If the above link does not work for you and your region, try the other two links below, that lead to the same product:
Get rid of Fsociety Ransomware from Mac OS X.
Step 1: Uninstall Fsociety Ransomware 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:
- 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 Fsociety Ransomware 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:
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 2: Scan for and remove Fsociety Ransomware files from your Mac
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as Fsociety Ransomware, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. Combo Cleaner offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.
Step 3 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Fsociety Ransomware on your Mac.
Ransomware for Mac Fsociety Ransomware aims to encode all your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decode, unless you pay money. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files, but only in some cases. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
Where are the instructions??? Where is part 3???
Fixed!