In this article, you will find out how to remove .tornado file virus and restore data with the help of an available decryption tool.

The .tornado file virus is a severe threat that demands a ransom once it encodes sensitive data stored on a compromised host. Corrupted files can be recognized by the extension .tornado appended at the end of their names. In a file named key.txt you can find a ransom message that primarily aims to trick you into paying the ransom to hackers. The amount needs to be transferred to a Bitcoin address.

Threat Summary

Name	.tornado virus
Type	Ransomware, Cryptovirus
Short Description	The ransomware virus encrypts files on your PC and drops a ransom note that demands payment for the decryption of .tornado files.
Symptoms	This ransomware encrypts your files and then appends the extension .tornado on every encrypted file.
Distribution Method	Spam Emails, Email Attachments, Executable Files
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by .tornado virus Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join Our Forum to Discuss .tornado virus.
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.

.tornado File Virus – Distribution

How the .tornado file virus may invade your system is via email spam messages, links to compromised web pages, freeware installers, fake software update notifications and other shady techniques of distribution.

Hackers mostly prefer the spam emails as senders’ names and subject lines are easily spoofed. The emails that deliver ransomware infections usually pose as reliable websites, services, or institutions.
Common traits of emails carriers of malware are:

• Spoofed email address and sender
• Text messages that attempt to provoke sense of urgency
• File attachment you need to download and see as soon as possible
• In-text link you should follow in order to obtain important information

By opening a compromised file attachment, you automatically grant access to .tornado ransomware to your system. The same happens in case that you decide to click on the presented link and visit the web page.

.tornado File Virus – Infection Flow

Once .tornado file virus is running on your system it initiates a sequence of malicious actions. In the beginning, it may connect its command and control server in order to arm itself with all the needed files taht will help it to fulfill the attack. There are several essential Windows system folders where the malicious files may be dropped:

• %AppData%
• %Temp%
• %Roaming%
• %Common%
• %System32%

Afterard, the crypto virus drops a ransom message and displays it on the screen. The ransom note file is called key.txt and could be located on the desktop. It primarily aims to urge you contact hackers at [email protected] or [email protected] and transfer an unspecified ransom to their Bitcoin address.

Below you can read the whole ransom message:

All your files have been encrypted due to a security problem with your PC. If you want to restore them, write us to the e-mail: [email protected] have to pay for decryption in Bitcoins. The price depends on how fast you write to us. After payment, we will send you the decryption tool that will decrypt all your files.In case of no answer in 48 hours write us to these e-mails: [email protected]
[redacted 512 hex]

If you don’t want to lose your money and get tricked again, it is better to try to overcome the problem with the help of reliable and secure solutions.

The threat has been proved to be a new iteration of the InsaneCrypt ransomware. Happily, the security researcher Michael Gillespie released an effective decryptor for the .tornado files. We have included it in the instructions below so you can utilize it after the removal process.

.tornado File Virus – Data Encryption

Being a data locker ransomware .tornado primarily aims to scan the system for predefined types of files in order to encrypt them. Security researchers who have been analyzing the threat’s samples stated that .tornado is supposed to utilize the RSA cipher to encode target data.

After encryption, all corrupted files can be recognized by the two specific file extensions appended at the end of their names. The string follows the pattern:

→.[email].Tornado

Files that store important information like documents, text files, databases, projects, audio records, images and photos may be encrypted in case .tornado file virus infection.

Unfortunately, the ransomware leaves all encrypted files completely out of order. Your access to all .tornado files is restricted until you pay the ransom or utilize alternative data recovery approach. Some of these approaches are listed in our guide below.

Тo reduce the data recovery options with one, the crypto virus currently known as Tornado, opens the Command Prompt panel to write the following command there:

→vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet

Thereby, the ransomware deletes all Shadow Volume copies stored by the Windows system.

.tornado File Virus – Remove It and Restore Files

The step-by-step removal guide below provides both manual and automatic approaches. Тhe removal of .tornado crypto virus is not an easy task as it is a severe threat that plagues the whole system. Security researchers recommend the help of advanced anti-malware tool for maximum efficiency.

Once the removal of all malicious files and objects is complete, you can continue with the data recovery process. The guide provides information and a download link of the InsaneCrypt Decrypter that is able to restore .tornado files. Be advised to back up all encrypted files to an external drive before you proceed with the recovery.

Manually delete .tornado virus from your computer

Note! Substantial notification about the .tornado virus threat: Manual removal of .tornado virus requires interference with system files and registries. Thus, it can cause damage to your PC. Even if your computer skills are not at a professional level, don’t worry. You can do the removal yourself just in 5 minutes, using a malware removal tool.

1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove .tornado 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 .tornado 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 .tornado virus on your PC

Find malicious files created by .tornado 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 .tornado virus by downloading an advanced anti-malware program

1. Remove .tornado virus with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data

Remove .tornado virus with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove .tornado virus.2. Scan with SpyHunter to Detect and Remove .tornado virus. Back up your data to secure it against infections and file encryption by .tornado virus in the future.

Step 1:Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.

Download

Malware Removal Tool

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 .tornado 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 .

SOS Online Backup

2. Decrypt files encrypted by .tornado virus

Restore Files Encrypted by .tornado virus

After having removed .tornado file virus from your computer, you should prepare your computer to not shut down automatically during decryption, since this process may take some time. To do this, please follow the following instructions:

1-Click once on the icon for the power (battery icon) in your system tray that is located next to your clock in the bottom right. After this, a menu will appear and on it click on More Power Options.
2-After the Power Options menu shows up, click on Change Plan Settings to open the settings.
3-In there, make sure you set everything from “Turn off the display” to “Put Computer to Sleep” in all modes to “Never”.
4-Now go to “Change Advanced Plan Settings” and go to the expanding “Hard Disk” setting from the list and set it’s settings to “Never” as well.

After you have prepared yourself, please follow these steps to start decrypting files:

Step 1: Download InsaneCrypt Decryptor which has been released by the malware analyst Michael Gillespie by clicking on the button below and saving it to your computer:

Download

InsaneCrypt Decryptor

Step 2: Extract the files from the archive and strat the InsaneCryptDecrypter.exe file and click on the Select Directory button:

Click the Decrypt button and the decryption process for your keys will begin. This may take from minutes to days, so please be patient. You will see a pop-up notifying you if a decryption has been successful or not.

InsaneCrypt Ransomware (.tornado file virus) – Conclusion

Make sure to try this process on a safe computer. In addition to that, make sure to also backup the encrypted files just in case they contain defensive mechanisms that break the files when you attempt to decrypt them.

We also recommend to anyone affected by this ransomware to learn how to protect their data in the future by reading the below-mentioned related article:

Safely Store Your Important Files and Protect Them from Malware

Gergana Ivanova

Gergana Ivanova is a computer security enthusiast. She keeps track on the latest malware issues and hopes that more people will outsmart hackers.

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