The F5z8a virus falls within the ransomware type of infection. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (photos, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file, leaving the @@@ To Restore Your Files.txt files in every folder containing encrypted files.
What is F5z8a virus?
☝️ A scientifically accurate denomination for the F5z8a is “a ransomware malicious agent”.
F5z8a will append its own .F5Z8A extension to every file’s title. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be turned into “photo.jpg.F5Z8A”. In the same manner, the Excel table named “table.xlsx” will end up as “table.xlsx.F5Z8A”, and so on.
In every directory that contains the encoded files, a @@@ To Restore Your Files.txt text file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. That is it.
F5z8a abstract:
| Name | F5z8a Virus |
| Extension | .F5Z8A |
| Ransomware note | @@@ To Restore Your Files.txt |
| Detection | MSIL/Spy.Agent.DSV, TrojanSpy:Win32/Delgent, Trojan.Ransom.Magniber |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) get a .F5Z8A extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by F5z8a virus |
In the screenshot below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the F5z8a looks like. Each filename has the “.F5Z8A” extension added to it.
That is how encrypted “.F5Z8A” files look.
How did my machine catch F5z8a ransomware?
There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware injection.
There are currently three most exploited ways for evil-doers to have the F5z8a virus settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer networks.
If you open your inbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a malicious item enclosed in them. So 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 gets into your computer pretending to be something different. For instance, you download an installer of some program you want or an update for some program. However, what is unboxed reveals itself a harmful agent that encodes your data. As the installation file can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the stuff you’re downloading. The optimal thing is to use the software developers’ official websites.
As for the peer networks like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat 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. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.
How to remove the F5z8a virus?
It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the F5z8a virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Sometimes criminals would decrypt few of your files to prove that they really have the decryption tool. As F5z8a virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software designers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. However, the decoding instruments are constantly updated, so the solution may soon arrive.
Understandably, if the malefactors succeed in encoding victim’s critical data, the hopeless person will probably comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean 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 hackers just disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.
The optimal safety measure against ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud disk or at least on an external storage. Obviously, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all went down. But at least it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the system is rolled back.
F5z8a 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 Xcbg, Qbaa, Kqgs, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the F5z8a are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: files become encrypted, their extensions changed, ransom notes are found in every directory containing encoded files.
Some lucky victims were able to decrypt the blocked files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But obviously, one should never rely on such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a bandits’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How сan I avert ransomware injection?
F5z8a ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, so as any similar malware.
You can protect your PC from its injection within several easy steps:
- Never open any letters from unknown mailers 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 more or less something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the questionable email carefully. A fake email will always have a mistake.
- Avoid using cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often spreaded as an element of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to tell from reliable software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try to find information on this software product on the anti-malware forums, 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 program will be a perfect defense 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 computer.
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 PC for F5z8a 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 “.F5Z8A” files?Can I somehow access “.F5Z8A” files?
Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.F5Z8A” files first. Then you will be able to open them.
🤔 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. The rest of the methods require patience.
🤔 If GridinSoft deletes the F5z8a malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?
Absolutely not! Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware will remove actual malware from your computer. The ransomware that has attacked your PC is probably still active and launching checks from time to time to encode any new files you might create on your PC after the attack. As it has been said above, the F5z8a virus does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide malefactors with easy access to your computer after some time.
🤔 What to do if the F5z8a virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.
In such an unfortunate situation, you need to have a flash memory drive with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the procedure. The point is that the ransomware starts automatically as the system launches and encodes any new files created or imported into your PC. To stop this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential programs to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What could help the situation right now?
Some of the blocked files can be located elsewhere.
- If you exchanged your critical files through email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
- You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Simply ask them to post those pictures back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try doing it again.
- Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud disks might have all those files too.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, cellphone, flash memory, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can use data recovery programs4 to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes 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 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 F5Z8A Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: F5Z8A Virus
Description: F5Z8A Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .F5Z8A 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.
