DEDSEC Ransomware (.DEDSEC File) Removal

Malware analyst S!Ri was the person who, for the first time, revealed the Dedsec virus, which falls within the ransomware type of malicious agent. Harmful software of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the computer (photos, documents, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, opening the randomly named .exe file that displays a ransom note in the end.

What is known about the Dedsec virus?

Dedsec will append its extra .dedsec extension to every file’s title. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be turned into “photo.jpg.dedsec”. Just like the Excel file named “table.xlsx” will be altered to “table.xlsx.dedsec”, and so forth.

Upon finishing the encryption, ransomware will launch a randomly-named executable file which acts as a ransom note. It contains information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the Dedsec developers. You can obtain this tool after contacting Telegram contact by email. That is basically the scheme of the malefaction.

Dedsec Summary:

The ransom note that comes in package with the Dedsec ransomware states the following:

DEDSEC RANSOMWARE
WE ARE DEDSEC

OOOPS. YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED!

DON\'T WORRY/ YOU CAN RETURN ALL YOUR FILES!
IF YOU WANT TO RESTORE THEM, FOLLOW THIS LINK
USE TELEGRAM TO ACCESS THIS: t.me/dedsesramsom
IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ANSWERED VIA THE LINK WITHIN
12 HOURS, YOUR FILES WILI BE AUTOMATICALLY DELETED.

ATTENTION!

* DO NOT RENAME ENCRYPTED FILES.
* DO NOT TRY TO DECRYPT YOUR DATA USING THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE,
IT MAY CAUSE PERMANENT DATA LOSS
* DECRYPTION OF YOUR FILES WITH THE HELP OF THE THIRD PARTIES MAY
CAUSE INCREASED FRICE, OR YOU CAN BECOME A VICTIM OF A SCAM

AUTHOR: 0XBIT

DECRYPTION KEY:

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

How did Dedsec ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular methods for malefactors to have ransomware acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer networks.

• Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan file model. A Trojan is a program that gets into your machine pretending to be something legal. For example, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some program. However, what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful program that encodes your data. As the installation wizard can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the files you’re downloading. The optimal thing is to trust the software developers’ official websites.
• As for the peer-to-peer networks like torrent trackers or eMule, the danger is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. 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 folder containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of ransomware?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Dedsec virus will probably deploy Vidar Stealer on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

How сan I avert ransomware injection?

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

You can defend yourself from ransomware infiltration within several easy steps:

• Never open any letters from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, check all elements of the dubious letter carefully. A fake letter will surely contain mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as a part of cracked products, possibly under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable software, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. Try to find information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?

Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. Otherwise, you might try to employ System Restore. The only question is whether you have saved any Restore Points that would be helpful now. All other solutions require time.

🤔 What to do if the Dedsec virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Many of the encoded files might still be within your reach

• If you exchanged your important files via email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Just ask them to send those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a laptop, mobile, memory stick, etc.

HINT: You can employ file recovery utilities¹ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the video below, you can see how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before you remove the ransomware itself with an antivirus program.

1. Here are Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.