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 IPA Virus and other threats.
Threats such as IPA Virus 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.
Article, created in order to assist with displaying how to remove International Police Association ransomware and how to restore files archived by it.
A ransomware virus, known as the International Police Association virus has been reported to infect the computers of it’s victims and place all of their files in an archive which is then password protected. The virus also aims to get victims to pay a hefty ransom fee in order to unlock the password-protected files. In case you have become a victim of the IPA ransomware virus, we strongly advise you to read this article in order to remove the International Police Association IPA virus and unlock your files for free.
Threat Summary
Name
IPA Virus
Type
Ransomware
Short Description
Archives important files on the compromised computers in a password protected .zip file and then demands a hefty ransom fee to be paid to get the unlock password.
Symptoms
The victim may not be able to open the files. A file locked.zip may appear in their place.
Distribution Method
Via an Exploit kit, Dll file attack, malicious JavaScript or a drive-by download of the malware itself in an obfuscated manner.
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.
How Does IPA Ransomware Distribute Itself
For the infection process, IPA ransomware uses a technique that is very similar to what most ransomware viruses do. The malware may spread via malicious e-mail attachments sent via e-mail to the victims. The e-mails contain false information, presenting the attachments as important documents, like invoices or receipts, for example:
Other methods by which IPA ransomware can cause an infection on your computer may include uploading the malicious files of this virus on torrent and other suspicious sites. The files may pretend to be setups of software, key generators, game patches, cracks and other license activators.
IPA Ransomware – What Does It Do
As soon as the user is infected, the intermediary malware uses an exploit in Windows to bypass protection. The virus then may drop it’s important files on the following Windows directories:
The primary files dropped in association with IPA ransomware are reported to be the following:
Build.exe
IAC.txt
Locked.zip
But in addition to this, the IPA ransomware may also attack multiple other aspects, of Windows like the Run and RunOnce windows Registry keys which are responsible for running a process on system start up.
The ransomware virus may also perform another activity. IPA ransomware may delete the shadow copies on the infected computer by executing variation of the vssadmin command in Windows Command Prompt:
IPA Ransomware – Archiving Process
The primary function of IPA ransomware is to copy all of the important files of the victim in a compressed .ZIP archive. The virus may initiate the procedure through the build.exe file and IPA ransomware scans and archives the following files:
After the files are located, the IPA virus begins to create an archive, named locked.zip and in this archive are all the files in a password protected format:
Fortunately, the files can now be unlocked as malware researchers have created a master unlock password for this infection. But before doing so, we strongly advise you to take the necessary steps and remove the IPA ransomware virus completely from your computer.
Remove IPA Virus and Unlock Archived Files
For the removal of this virus, it is best to backup the locked.zip file, beforehand. After this, we recommend following the removal instructions below in order to get rid of this threat. For maximum effectiveness, we also recommend that you use an advanced anti-malware software for a swift removal and full protection. After having removed the IPA Ransomware virus, you can unlock the IPA locked.zip file by using the master password, detected by researchers:
ddd123456
1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove IPA Virus 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 IPA Virus 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 IPA Virus on your PC
Find malicious files created by IPA Virus
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 IPA Virus by downloading an advanced anti-malware program
1. Remove IPA Virus with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data
Remove IPA Virus with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove IPA Virus.2. Scan with SpyHunter to Detect and Remove IPA Virus. Back up your data to secure it against infections and file encryption by IPA Virus in the future.
Step 1:Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.
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 IPA Virus 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.
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.
Article, created in order to assist with displaying how to remove International Police Association ransomware and how to restore files archived by it.
1. For Windows 7,XP and Vista.
2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.
Fix registry entries created by IPA Virus on your PC.
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove IPA Virus.
Back up your data to secure it against infections and file encryption by IPA Virus in the future.
