Virus analyst Tomas Meskauskas was the person who originally described the Eeyee virus, which falls within the ransomware type of infection. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, leaving the 6pZZ_HOW_TO_DECRYPT.txt text files in every folder with the encrypted files.
What is Eeyee?
☝️ A scientifically accurate description for the Eeyee is “a ransomware infection”.
The renaming will be done according to the following pattern: eeyee. In the course of encryption, a file named, for example, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx._9kS79wzVPITFK7aqOYOceNkL7HXF2abMSeeTutfPGP_I8Rqxs2yWeo0.eeyee”.
In each folder that contains the encoded files, a 6pZZ_HOW_TO_DECRYPT.txt text document will appear. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the tamperers. That is how they do it.
Eeyee abstract:
| Name | Eeyee Virus |
| Extension | .eeyee |
| Ransomware note | 6pZZ_HOW_TO_DECRYPT.txt |
| Detection | Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Encoder.ook, Win32/ClipBanker.IR, MSIL/Filecoder.WannaScream.A |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .eeyee extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Eeyee virus |
The 6pZZ_HOW_TO_DECRYPT.txt file coming in package with the Eeyee ransomware states the following:
Your network has been breached and all data were encrypted.
Personal data, financial reports and important documents are ready to disclose.
To decrypt all the data and to prevent exfiltrated files to be disclosed at
hxxp://hiveleakdbtnp76ulyhi52eag6c6tyc3xw7ez7iqy6wc34gd2nekazyd.onion/
you will need to purchase our decryption software.
Please contact our sales department at:
hxxp://hivecust6vhekztbqgdnkks64ucehqacge3dij3gyrrpdp57zoq3ooqd.onion/
Login: -
Password: -
To get access to .onion websites download and install Tor Browser at:
hxxps://www.torproject.org/ (Tor Browser is not related to us)
Follow the guidelines below to avoid losing your data:
- Do not modify, rename or delete *.key.eeyee files. Your data will be
undecryptable.
- Do not modify or rename encrypted files. You will lose them.
- Do not report to the Police, FBI, etc. They don't care about your business.
They simply won't allow you to pay. As a result you will lose everything.
- Do not hire a recovery company. They can't decrypt without the key.
They also don't care about your business. They believe that they are
good negotiators, but it is not. They usually fail. So speak for yourself.
- Do not reject to purchase. Exfiltrated files will be publicly disclosed.
In the picture below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Eeyee looks like. Each filename has the “.eeyee” extension appended to it.
That is how encrypted “.eeyee” files look.
How did my computer get infected with Eeyee ransomware?
There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware injection.
There are currently three most popular ways for hackers to have the Eeyee virus working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.
If you access your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a malicious item attached to them. Thus it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan file scheme1. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your machine pretending to be something legal. For instance, you download an installer for some program you want or an update for some service. However, what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful agent that encodes your data. Since the update file can have any name and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the source of the stuff you’re downloading. The optimal thing is to trust the software companies’ official websites.
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 Internet. You can never know what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.
How do I get rid of the Eeyee virus?
It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Eeyee virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.
Sometimes racketeers would decrypt a few of your files so you know that they do have the decryption tool. As Eeyee virus is relatively recent ransomware, safety measures developers have not yet found a method to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware instruments are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.
Understandably, if the evildoers do the job of encoding victim’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. However, paying a ransom gives no guarantee that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still dangerous. After getting the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports of racketeers just vanishing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.
The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud drive or at least on an external disk. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most important thing could be that file you were working upon when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the OS is rolled back.
Eeyee is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. For instance, Xcmb, Hudf, Yjqs, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Eeyee are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: files become blocked, their extensions altered, ransom notes are created in every directory containing encoded files.
Some fortunate users were able to decode the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-malware specialists. Sometimes the hackers accidentally send the decryption key to the victims in the ransom note. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a tamperers’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How to avert ransomware infection?
Eeyee ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, so as any similar malware.
You can armour your PC from its injection in several easy steps:
- Never open any letters from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email with caution. A fake email will surely contain mistakes.
- Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often shared as an element of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” which prevents the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy ones, as trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try to find information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such software.
- And to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a perfect shield for your PC.
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 PC.
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 system for Eeyee 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.
FAQ
🤔 Are the “.eeyee” files accessible?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.eeyee” files are decrypted.
🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.eeyee” files ASAP. How can I do that?
It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. 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.
🤔 If GridinSoft deletes the Eeyee malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?
No way! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with actual threats. The virus that has infiltrated your system is probably still functional and running scans periodically to encrypt any new files you might create on your computer after the infection. As it has been said above, the Eeyee ransomware comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide criminals with easy access to your PC after some time.
🤔 What actions should I take if the Eeyee virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.
In such an unfortunate situation, you need to prepare a memory stick with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the procedure. The point is that the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encodes any new files created or brought into your computer. To stop this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential programs to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on running Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 And what should I do now?
Many of the encoded files might still be within your reach
- If you sent or received your critical files via email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
- You may have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to send those images back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try downloading them again.
- Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a portable device, mobile, flash memory, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can use file recovery programs4 to get your lost data back since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing 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 eradicate the virus with an anti-malware program.
Also, you can contact the following governmental 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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Brendan SmithHow to Remove EEYEE Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: EEYEE Virus
Description: EEYEE Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .eeyee extension. So, you can't use them at all.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Virus
User Review
( votes)References
- You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
- GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
- More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
- Here are Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
