by Ventsislav Krastev | March 16, 2017 | 2 Comments file-encryption, malware

Article created to help you remove the Revenge ransomware virus and restore files encrypted with the .revenge file extension.

A well-coded ransomware infection that is using the AES and RSA encryption algorithms has been reported to infect users since March 2017. The ransomware virus Is dubbed Revenge ransomware and aims to encrypt the files on the computers infected by it. After the encryption, Revenge ransomware drops a # !!!HELP_FILE!!! #.TXT note in which it demands a payment to return all the files. The virus creators communicate via e-mail. In case you have become a victim of this ransomware infection, recommendations are to read this article completely.

Threat Summary

Name	Revenge
Type	Ransomware
Short Description	The malware encrypts users files using a strong encryption algorithm, making direct decryption possible only via a unique decryption key available to the cyber-criminals.
Symptoms	The user may witness ransom notes and “instructions” linking to a web page and a decryptor. Changed file names and the file-extension .REVENGE has been used.
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 malware Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join our forum to Discuss Revenge.
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.

Revenge Ransomware – How Does It Infect

For this virus to become active and infect an increasing number of Windows users’ multiple techniques are reportedly used. One of them is to utilize malicious files that contain either the Rig Exploit Kit or EiTest kit, web-injectors and fake updates for the infection. Such may be spread by being added as web links or malicious e-mail attachments in archives. The e-mails accompanying those attachments may contain deceptive messages that aim to trick the user into opening them, for instance:

After the user opens the malicious e-mail attachment, Revenge ransomware becomes activated and multiple malicious files are downloaded onto the computer of the user:

Rig-EK.swf
Svchost.exe
{random named file}.exe
{random named file(2)}.exe
{random named file(3)}.exe
{random named file}.bin.exe
# !!!HELP_FILE!!! #.TXT

Most of the files are located in the %AppData% dorectory. But there is also the situation with malicious files that are located in the %Windows NT% directory.

Revenge Ransomware – Infection Analysis

After the infection by Revenge ransomware has been initiated, the virus begins to perform multiple different types of modifications to the computer, starting with the executing of administrative Windows commands in the Command Prompt without the user noticing. The commands are reported by researchers to be the following:

→ /C vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet
/C bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled No
/C bcdedit /set {default} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures
/C net stop vss
/C vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet
/C net stop vss

These commands are executed with the one and only purpose to stop the volume shadow service and delete the volume shadow copies (backed up files) in a quiet mode, without the user even seeing it.

In the meantime, Revenge ransomware also establishes connection with the following hosts:

dfg.stickneylodge.com (217.107.34.86)
109.236.87.201
www.everythingcebu.com

The virus also performs multiple other modifications, such as changing the functionality of the autorun service to run malicious executables on system boot. Revenge ransomware also steals confidential information from the web browsers of the infected computer and this may even include passwords and login usernames. This activity is very typical for evolved ransomware viruses, known as doxware.

Revenge Ransomware – Encryption Process

For the encryption of Revenge ransomware, multiple different processes are initiated in the Windows Task Manager to ensure that it is uninterrupted. The encryption procedure targets over 400 different types of files, including pictures, archives, documents, videos and other widely used content. When we put together all of the file extensions together, the list of encrypted files, if detected, becomes quite big:

.1CD, .3DM, .3DS, .3FR, .3G2, .3GP, .3PR, .7Z, .7ZIP, .AAC, .AB4, .ABD, .ACC,.ACCDB, .ACCDE, .ACCDR, .ACCDT, .ACH, .ACR, .ACT, .ADB, .ADP, .ADS, .AGDL, .AI, .AIFF, .AIT, .AL, .AOI, .APJ, .APK, .ARW, .ASCX, .ASF, .ASM, .ASP, .ASPX, .ASSET, .ASX, .ATB, .AVI, .AWG, .BACK, .BACKUP, .BACKUPDB, .BAK, .BANK, .BAY, .BDB, .BGT, .BIK, .BIN, .BKP, .BLEND, .BMP, .BPW, .BSA, .C, .CASH, .CDB, .CDF, .CDR, .CDR3, .CDR4, .CDR5, .CDR6, .CDRW, .CDX, .CE1, .CE2, .CER, .CFG, .CFN, .CGM, .CIB, .CLASS, .CLS, .CMT, .CONFIG, .CONTACT, .CPI, .CPP, .CR2, .CRAW, .CRT, .CRW, .CRY, .CS, .CSH, .CSL, .CSS, .CSV, .D3DBSP, .DAC, .DAS, .DAT, .DB .DB_JOURNAL, .DB3, .DBF, .DBX, .DC2, .DCR, .DCS, .DDD, .DDOC, .DDRW, .DDS, .DEF, .DER, .DES, .DESIGN, .DGC, .DGN, .DIT, .DJVU, .DNG, .DOC, .DOCM, .DOCX, .DOT, .DOTM, .DOTX, .DRF, .DRW, .DTD, .DWG, .DXB, .DXF, .DXG, .EDB, .EML, .EPS, .ERBSQL, .ERF, .EXF, .FDB, .FFD, .FFF, .FH, .FHD, .FLA, .FLAC, .FLB, .FLF, .FLV, .FLVV, .FORGE, .FPX, .FXG, .GBR, .GHO, .GIF, .GRAY, .GREY, .GROUPS, .GRY, .H, .HBK, .HDD, .HPP, .HTML, .IBANK, .IBD, .IBZ, .IDX, .IIF, .IIQ, .INCPAS, .INDD, .INFO, .INFO_, .IWI, .JAR, .JAVA, .JNT, .JPE, .JPEG, .JPG, .JS, .JSON, .K2P, .KC2, .KDBX, .KDC, .KEY, .KPDX, .KWM, .LACCDB, .LBF, .LCK, .LDF, .LIT, .LITEMOD, .LITESQL, .LOCK, .LTX, .LUA, .M, .M2TS, .M3U, .M4A, .M4P, .M4V, .MA, .MAB, .MAPIMAIL, .MAX, .MBX, .MD, .MDB, .MDC, .MDF, .MEF, .MFW, .MID, .MKV, .MLB, .MMW, .MNY, .MONEY, .MONEYWELL, .MOS, .MOV, .MP3, .MP4, .MPEG, .MPG, .MRW, .MSF, .MSG, .MTS, .MYD, .ND, .NDD, .NDF, .NEF, .NK2, .NOP, .NRW, .NS2, .NS3, .NS4, .NSD, .NSF, .NSG, .NSH, .NVRAM, .NWB, .NX2, .NXL, .NYF, .OAB, .OBJ, .ODB, .ODC, .ODF, .ODG, .ODM, .ODP, .ODS, .ODT, .OGG, .OIL, .OMG, .ONE, .ORF, .OST, .OTG, .OTH, .OTP, .OTS, .OTT, .P12, .P7B, .P7C, .PAB, .PAGES, .PAS, .PAT, .PBF, .PCD, .PCT, .PDB, .PDD, .PDF, .PEF, .PFX, .PHP, .PIF, .PL, .PLC, .PLUS_MUHD, .PM!, .PM, .PMI, .PMJ, .PML, .PMM, .PMO, .PMR, .PNC, .PND, .PNG, .PNX, .POT, .POTM, .POTX, .PPAM, .PPS, .PPSM, .PPSX, .PPT, .PPTM, .PPTX, .PRF, .PRIVATE, .PS, .PSAFE3, .PSD, .PSPIMAGE, .PST, .PTX, .PUB, .PWM, .PY, .QBA, .QBB, .QBM, .QBR, .QBW, .QBX, .QBY, .QCOW, .QCOW2, .QED, .QTB, .R3D, .RAF, .RAR, .RAT, .RAW, .RDB, .RE4, .RM, .RTF, .RVT, .RW2, .RWL, .RWZ, .S3DB, .SAFE, .SAS7BDAT, .SAV, .SAVE, .SAY, .SD0, .SDA, .SDB, .SDF, .SH, .SLDM, .SLDX, .SLM, .SQL, .SQLITE, .SQLITE3, .SQLITEDB, .SQLITE-SHM, .SQLITE-WAL, .SR2, .SRB, .SRF, .SRS, .SRT, .SRW, .ST4, .ST5, .ST6, .ST7, .ST8, .STC, .STD, .STI, .STL, .STM, .STW, .STX, .SVG, .SWF, .SXC, .SXD, .SXG, .SXI, .SXM, .SXW, .TAX, .TBB, .TBK, .TBN, .TEX, .TGA, .THM, .TIF, .TIFF, .TLG, .TLX, .TXT, .UPK, .USR, .VBOX, .VDI, .VHD, .VHDX, .VMDK, .VMSD, .VMX, .VMXF, .VOB, .VPD, .VSD, .WAB, .WAD, .WALLET, .WAR, .WAV, .WB2, .WMA, .WMF, .WMV, .WPD, .WPS, .X11, .X3F, .XIS, .XLA, .XLAM, .XLK, .XLM, .XLR, .XLS, .XLSB, .XLSM, .XLSX, .XLT, .XLTM, .XLTX, .XLW, .XML, .XPS, .XXX, .YCBCRA, .YUV, .ZIP Source: id-ransomware.blogspot.bg

For the encryption process, Revenge ransomware reportedly uses two types of encryption algorithms which are both very strong:

RSA-1024
AES-256

For the specific encryption process of the files, the AES cipher may be used. Bytes of the original files are replaced with encrypted data and the files become no longer openable. After the procedure is complete, the RSA cipher may be additionally applied to generate unique decryption keys, which makes decryption even more difficult and highly unlikely.

The files are appended the .revenge file extension after the encryption process has completed and they may also contain a victim id, the file name in an encrypted format, a 8 character string and another filename in an 8 character encrypted format and after all of these, the files have the extension appended. They may look like the following:

After the encryption process is complete, the # !!!HELP_FILE!!! #.TXT appears on the infected computer. It has the same message written in 5 languages (English, Italian, German, Polish, Korean):

Remove Revenge Ransomware and Restore .REVENGE Files

Before attempting any removal of this ransomware infections, malware researchers strongly recommend to focus on backing up the files that have been encrypted by this ransomware infection, just in case.

Then, we advise you to follow the step-by-step removal guide below which will show you how to remove the Revenge ransomware infection from your computer permanently. In case you lack the experience to perform a manual removal, experts always advise taking the approach that is conducted automatically. It includes the download and installation of an advanced anti-malware program which will take care of the Revenge virus swiftly and protect your computer in the future too.

After having already taken care of the malicious objects dropped by Revenge on your computer, recommendations are to try and restore your files using alternative tools, like the ones we suggested in step “2. Restore files encrypted by Revenge” below. These tools are in no way guarantee that you will recover all your encrypted data, however they are a good alternative, because at least some of the files can be recovered this way.

Ventsislav Krastev

Ventsislav is a cybersecurity expert at SensorsTechForum since 2015. He has been researching, covering, helping victims with the latest malware infections plus testing and reviewing software and the newest tech developments. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for learning new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management, Network Administration and Computer Administration of System Applications, he found his true calling within the cybersecrurity industry and is a strong believer in the education of every user towards online safety and security.

How to Remove Revenge from Windows.

Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Revenge

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

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".

Tip: Make sure to reverse those changes by unticking Safe Boot after that, because your system will always boot in Safe Boot from now on.

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 Revenge 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 Revenge 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 Revenge 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.

IMPORTANT!
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 Revenge with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

1. Click on the "Download" button to proceed to SpyHunter's download page.

Download

Malware Removal Tool

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.

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.

If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer

Get rid of Revenge from Mac OS X.

Step 1: Uninstall Revenge and remove related files and objects

OFFER

Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!

We Recommend To Scan Your Mac with SpyHunter for Mac

Keep in mind, that SpyHunter for Mac needs to purchased to remove the malware threats. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy

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 Revenge:

Tip: To quit a process completely, choose the “Force Quit” option.

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 Revenge. 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 Revenge. 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 Revenge 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:

Disclaimer! If you are about to tamper with Library files on Mac, be sure to know the name of the virus file, because if you delete the wrong file, it may cause irreversible damage to your MacOS. Continue on your own responsibility!

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 Revenge. 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 2: Scan for and remove Revenge files from your Mac

When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as Revenge, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. SpyHunter for Mac offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.

Click the button below below to download SpyHunter for Mac and scan for Revenge:

Download

SpyHunter for Mac

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer

Remove Revenge from Google Chrome.

Step 1: Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu

Step 2: Move the cursor over "Tools" and then from the extended menu choose "Extensions"

Step 3: From the opened "Extensions" menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its "Remove" button.

Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer

Erase Revenge from Mozilla Firefox.

Step 1: Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window

Step 2: Select the "Add-ons" icon from the menu.

Step 3: Select the unwanted extension and click "Remove"

Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer

Uninstall Revenge from Microsoft Edge.

Step 1: Start Edge browser.

Step 2: Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.

Step 3: From the drop menu select "Extensions".

Step 4: Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.

Step 5: Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer

Remove Revenge from Safari.

Step 1: Start the Safari app.

Step 2: After hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, click on the Safari text to open its drop down menu.

Step 3: From the menu, click on "Preferences".

Step 4: After that, select the 'Extensions' Tab.

Step 5: Click once on the extension you want to remove.

Step 6: Click 'Uninstall'.

A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall the extension. Select 'Uninstall' again, and the Revenge will be removed.

How to Reset Safari
IMPORTANT: Before resetting Safari make sure you back up all your saved passwords within the browser in case you forget them.

Start Safari and then click on the gear leaver icon.

Click the Reset Safari button and you will reset the browser.

Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer

Eliminate Revenge from Internet Explorer.

Step 1: Start Internet Explorer.

Step 2: Click on the gear icon labeled 'Tools' to open the drop menu and select 'Manage Add-ons'

Step 3: In the 'Manage Add-ons' window.

Step 4: Select the extension you want to remove and then click 'Disable'. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click 'Disable'.

Step 5: After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red 'X' button located at the top right corner and start it again.

2 Comments

Carlos Mario Nieto Gomez March 25, 2017 at 4:11 pm

BS DIAS EWSTOYB INFECTADO CON EL VIRUS, TODOS MIS ARCHIVOS TIENEN EXTENSIÓN .SAGE Y QUEDARON INUTILES. NO LOS PUEDO ABRIR. NO PUEDO RESTAURAR POR QUE BORRO TODOS LO S PUNTOS DE RESTAURACION, BAJE LA HERRAMIENTA SPY HUNTER V 4.0, ELIMINO ALGUNAS AMENAZAS PERO NINGUNA CON RELACION A ESE VIRUS. BAJE OTRA HERRAMIENTA PARA RECUPERACION DE ARCHIVOS PERO NO ME RECUPERO TODO. ¿ Hay alguna manera de restaurar los archivos a su estado original? o el virus borra el archivo original y crea una copia con la extension *.sage? entonces toca recuperar con software de recuperacion de archivos?. muchas gracias. mi Nombre es carlos mario nieto de santa marta, magdalena, colombia Email; cnietogomez@hotmail.com, 3004823295 – 4224508 – 4203362

Reply ↓
1. Vencislav Krustev March 27, 2017 at 6:31 am
  
  hello, from what you wrote, i understand that you were infected by Sage ransomware. For more information on sage, please visit the following article:
  
  sensorstechforum.com/sage-2-2-ransomware-restore-sage-virus-files/
  
  Reply ↓

.REVENGE File Virus Remove and Restore Files

Threat Summary

Revenge

Revenge Ransomware – How Does It Infect

Revenge Ransomware – Infection Analysis

Revenge Ransomware – Encryption Process

Remove Revenge Ransomware and Restore .REVENGE Files

Ventsislav Krastev

How to Remove Revenge from Windows.

Get rid of Revenge from Mac OS X.

Remove Revenge from Google Chrome.

Erase Revenge from Mozilla Firefox.

Uninstall Revenge from Microsoft Edge.

Remove Revenge from Safari.

Eliminate Revenge from Internet Explorer.

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