The Exilencetg virus falls under the ransomware type of malicious agent. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its specific extension to every file, creating the cyber.txt files in each folder which contains the encrypted files.
What is known about the Exilencetgvirus?
☝️ A scientifically correct description for the Exilencetg is “a ransomware-type malicious agent”.
Exilencetg will append its specific .exilenceTG extension to every file’s title. For example, an image named “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.exilenceTG”. In the same manner, the Excel file named “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.exilenceTG”, and so on.
In every folder with the encrypted files, a cyber.txt text document will appear. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the racketeers. That is how they do it.
Exilencetg outline:
Name | Exilencetg Virus |
Extension | .exilenceTG |
Ransomware note | cyber.txt |
Detection | MSIL/GenKryptik.GGWL, Doina.48214, Win32:Teerac-BX [Trj] |
Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) get a .exilenceTG extension and you can’t open them. |
Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Exilencetg virus |
In the picture below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Exilencetg looks like. Each filename has the “.exilenceTG” extension added to it.
How did my machine catch Exilencetg ransomware?
There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.
Nowadays, there are three most exploited methods for malefactors to have the Exilencetg virus acting in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer networks.
If you access your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a harmful item enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with letters 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 different. Imagine, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some program. However, what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful agent that corrupts your data. Since the update file can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the files you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software developers’ official websites.
As for the peer-to-peer networks like torrents 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 finished.
How to remove the Exilencetg virus?
It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Exilencetg virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Often tamperers would decrypt several of your files to prove that they do have the decryption tool. Since Exilencetg virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decoding tools are constantly upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.
Understandably, if the malefactors succeed in encoding victim’s critical files, the desperate person will most likely comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After obtaining the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about malefactors simply vanishing after getting the ransom without even writing back.
The best countermeasure to ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud drive or at least on an external drive. Surely, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the OS restoration.
Exilencetg 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 Exilencetg are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: documents become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in every directory containing encrypted files.
Some lucky victims were able to decode the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the hackers accidentally send the decoding code to the victims in the ransom note. Such an epic fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.
How сan I avoid ransomware injection?
Exilencetg ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, so as any similar malware.
You can protect your PC from its infiltration in three easy steps:
- Ignore any letters from unknown senders 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 participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious letter carefully. A fake email will always contain mistakes.
- Avoid using cracked or untrusted programs. Trojans are often distributed as an element of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” which prevents the license check. But untrusted programs are difficult to tell from trustworthy ones, as trojans may also have the functionality you need. You can try to find information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the best solution is not to use such software.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a perfect shield 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 system for Exilencetg 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
🤔 How can I open “.exilenceTG” files?Are the “.exilenceTG” files accessible?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.exilenceTG” files are decrypted.
🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?
If the “.exilenceTG” 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.
🤔 You have advised using GridinSoft Anti-Malware to get rid of the Exilencetg virus. Does it mean that all my files, currently encrypted, will be removed too?
Of course not. Unlike the ransomware program itself, the encrypted files do not jeopardize your system.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware will delete active infections from your system. The ransomware that has attacked your computer is probably still functional and running scans from time to time to arrest any new files you might create on your computer after the initial attack. As it has been mentioned above, the Exilencetg virus does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide malefactors with easy access to your computer after some time.
🤔 What to do if the Exilencetg virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.
If that happened, you need to have a memory stick with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the procedure. The point is that the ransomware runs automatically as the system launches and encodes any new files created or imported into your computer. To suppress this process – 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 blocked files might still be within your reach
- If you exchanged your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
- You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Simply ask them to send those images back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try to do it again.
- Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud storage might have all those files too.
- Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, cellphone, flash memory, etc.
HINT: You can employ data recovery programs4 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 use PhotoRec for such a restoration, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you remove the ransomware itself 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 EXILENCETG Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: EXILENCETG Virus
Description: EXILENCETG Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .exilenceTG 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’s the list of Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.