EAF Virus (.EAF Files) — How to Remove?

The Eaf virus belongs with the ransomware type of malicious agent. Ransomware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (images, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its specific extension to every file, creating the #FILES-ENCRYPTED.txt text files in each directory containing encrypted files.

Eaf virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A strictly correct denomination for the Eaf would be “a ransomware infection”.

The renaming will be executed according to the following scheme: [contact_email][victimID].original_file_name.EAF. In the process of encryption, a file entitled, for instance, “report.docx” will be renamed to “[[email protected]][9ECFA84E]report.docx.EAF”.

In every folder with the encrypted files, a #FILES-ENCRYPTED.txt text file will be created. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can get this tool after contacting [email protected] by email. That is how they do it.

Eaf outline:

The #FILES-ENCRYPTED.txt document coming in package with the Eaf ransomware provides the following dispiriting information:

ATTENTION!
At the moment, your system is not protected.
We can fix it and restore files.
To get started, send a file to decrypt trial.
Don\'t pay any money, when we didn\'t decrypt trial file.
You can trust us after opening the test file.
To restore the system write to this address:


Email 1: [email protected]
Email 2: [email protected] 

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

How did Eaf ransomware end up on my PC?

There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most exploited ways for hackers to have ransomware working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer networks.

If you access your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a viral item attached to them. So it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like torrents or eMule, the danger is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never know what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using 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 Eaf virus?

It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your files, the Eaf virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware² can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often racketeers would unblock some of your files so you know that they really have the decryption tool. Since Eaf virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a method to undo its work. However, the decryption instruments are constantly updated, so the solution may soon arrive.

Understandably, if the hackers do the job of encrypting someone’s essential data, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. Nevertheless, paying a ransom gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still risky. After getting the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about racketeers simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.

The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external storage. Obviously, that might be insufficient. The most important thing could be that file you were working upon when it all started. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the system restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Eaf, that work similarly. Examples of those are Bbyy, Bbzz, Bnrs, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Eaf are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: documents become encrypted, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in each directory containing encoded files.

Some lucky victims were able to decode the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware specialists. Sometimes the criminals mistakenly send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But obviously, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How do I avoid ransomware attack?

Eaf ransomware has no endless power, neither does any similar malware.

You can armour your computer from ransomware infiltration within three easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the suspicious email with caution. A fake letter will always contain mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or unknown software. Trojans are often spreaded as a part of cracked software, most likely as a “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information about this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such software.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft³

Download Removal Tool.

Run the setup file.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

Click on “Clean Now”.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 Can I somehow access “.EAF” files?

Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.EAF” files you will not be able to access them.

🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.EAF” files ASAP. How can I do that?

If the “.EAF” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. 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.

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

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Many of the blocked files might still be at your disposal

• If you exchanged your important files by email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You may have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to give those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
• Your messengers, social networks 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 data recovery programs⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware arrests the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you can do it only after you eradicate the virus 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.

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