I've spent several hours searching the internet to see if anyone has cracked this encryption yet, but without any luck. I don't want to reward criminals for their activity, but I do have a few files that I absolutely need. Besides finding a decryptor or paying the ransom, do I have any other options for recovering my files? I have been able to successfully restore a couple of systems from backups, but my personal system wasn't backed up and has temporarily housed important files.
I'm somewhat familiar with best practices of backing up important files and/or saving to the cloud, but I will definitely be more vigilant in the future. It was mostly due to the 'it will never happen to me' mindset.
Relevant information:
- I've identified how they got in, and have reset the password on that account (and all other accounts just in case).
- I did have malware bytes and sophos installed. Looking at the Event Viewer, there are logs of both of these software being successfully uninstalled.
- The files are renamed like this: originalFileName.orig.[8-digit-hex].[ruthlessencry@qq.com].makop
- The ransom note file says to contact them at ruthlessencry@qq.com to pay them in bitcoins.
- They'll decrypt a couple of files for free, and then send me a scanner-decoder program after being paid.