ALICE Ransomware 🔐 (.ALICE File) — Removal Guide

The Alice virus belongs under the ransomware type of infection. Ransomware of such sort encrypts all the data on your PC (photos, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its specific extension to every file, creating the How To Restore Your Files.txt text files in every folder containing encrypted files.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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Alice virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A scientifically correct designation for the Alice would be “a ransomware-type infection”.

Alice appends its own .alice extension to the title of each encrypted file. For instance, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.alice”. Just like the Excel sheet named “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.alice”, and so on.

In each folder containing the encoded files, a How To Restore Your Files.txt text file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can get this decoding tool after contacting Telegram contact by email. That is how they do it.

Alice outline:

The How To Restore Your Files.txt document accompanying the Alice ransomware states the following:

Привет! твой компьютер заблокирован, данные будут уничтожены полностью. При попытке удаления сгорит материнская плата и жесткий диск.  Для сохранения данных необходимо перевести 150 долларов на btc кошелек bc1qaya7rnzp3lx3zcq4v9v4lskahltrd0nq50s4x0 и написать в тг @sorry_bro_bivaet

In the picture below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Alice looks like. Each filename has the “.alice” extension added to it.

An example of encrypted .alice files.

How did my computer get infected with Alice ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most exploited methods for criminals to have ransomware acting in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer networks.

If you open your inbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a viral file enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan virus model¹. A Trojan is an object that gets into your machine disguised as something else. Imagine, you download an installer for some program you want or an update for some service. But what is unboxed reveals itself a harmful agent that encrypts your data. Since the update wizard can have any name and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software developers’ official websites.

As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like BitTorrent or eMule, the danger is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. You can never guess what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.

How do I get rid of the Alice virus?

It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your files, the Alice virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Sometimes racketeers would decode some of your files so you know that they do have the decryption program. Since Alice virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware tools are frequently upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.

Sure thing, if the criminals succeed in encoding victim’s essential data, the hopeless person will probably comply with their demands. However, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After getting the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports of criminals simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud disk or at least on an external drive. Surely, that might be insufficient. The most crucial thing could be that one you were working on when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the system restoration.

Alice is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. Examples of those are Goaq, Qotr, Coaq, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Alice are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: documents become encrypted, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in each folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky users were able to decode the blocked files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decoding key to the victims in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.

How сan I avert ransomware infiltration?

Alice ransomware has no superpower, neither does any similar malware.

You can protect yourself from its infiltration taking three easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown mailboxes with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are expecting (can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, check all elements of the questionable letter with caution. A fake letter will always contain mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often shared as a part of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such programs at all.
• And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a perfect defense for your system.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft²

There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft³.

Download Removal Tool.

You can download GridinSoft Anti-Malware by clicking the button below:

Run the setup file.

When setup file has finished downloading, double-click on the setup-antimalware-fix.exe file to install GridinSoft Anti-Malware on your system.

An User Account Control asking you about to allow GridinSoft Anti-Malware to make changes to your device. So, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware will automatically start scanning your computer for Alice infections and other malicious programs. This process can take a 20-30 minutes, so I suggest you periodically check on the status of the scan process.

Click on “Clean Now”.

When the scan has completed, you will see the list of infections that GridinSoft Anti-Malware has detected. To remove them click on the “Clean Now” button in right corner.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 How can I open “.alice” files?Is it possible to open“.alice” files?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.alice” files are decrypted.

🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?

Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. In case you haven’t, there is still a chance that you do have a Restore Point from some time ago to roll back the whole system to the moment when it had no virus yet, but already had your files. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Alice virus?

No way! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware will delete active threats from your system. The malware that has attacked your computer is most likely still functional and running scans from time to time to encode any new files you might create on your computer after the attack. As it has already been said, the Alice virus does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide hackers with easy access to your system in the future.

🤔 What should I do if the Alice ransomware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

If that happened, you need to have a flash memory drive with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the cleaning. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system launches and encodes any new files created or brought into your machine. To stop this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential applications to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Many of the encoded files might still be at your disposal

• If you exchanged your critical files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You may have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to send those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a notebook, phone, memory stick, etc.

HINT: You can use data recovery programs⁴ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you can do it only after you kill the ransomware itself with an antivirus program.

Also, you can contact the following official fraud and scam sites to report this attack:

• In the United States: On Guard Online;
• In Canada: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre;
• In the United Kingdom: Action Fraud;
• In Australia: SCAMwatch;
• In New Zealand: Consumer Affairs Scams;
• In France: Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information;
• In Germany: Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik;
• In Ireland: An Garda Síochána;

To report the attack, you can contact local executive boards. For instance, if you live in USA, you can have a talk with FBI Local field office, IC3 or Secret Service.

1. You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
2. GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
3. More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
4. Here are Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.