HEBEM Virus 🔐 (.HEBEM Files) — How to Remove?

The Hebem virus falls within the Dharma ransomware family. Ransomware of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, documents, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file, creating the info.txt text files in every folder containing encrypted files.

What is known about the Hebemvirus?

☝️ A strictly accurate description for the Hebem is “a Dharma family ransomware malicious agent”.

The renaming will be done according to the following scheme: victimID.[contact_email].hebem . As a part of encryption, a file entitled, for example, “report.docx” will be changed to “report.docx.id-9ECFA84E.[[email protected]].hebem”.

In every folder containing the encrypted files, a info.txt file will be found. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. You can get this decrypting software after contacting [email protected] through email. That is it.

Hebem overview:

The info.txt file coming in package with the Hebem malware provides the following dispiriting information:

all your data has been locked us
You want to return?
write email [email protected] or [email protected]

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

How did my machine catch Hebem ransomware?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most exploited methods for malefactors to have ransomware acting in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you access your mailbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is unknown to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a harmful file enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the peer-to-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. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How to remove the Hebem virus?

It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your files, the Hebem virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware³ can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Sometimes criminals would unblock some of your files to prove that they do have the decryption program. Since Hebem virus is a relatively recent ransomware, safety measures designers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the anti-ransomware tools are frequently upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Of course, if the malefactors succeed in encoding victim’s essential data, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. However, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about ransomware developers simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The best solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud storage or at least on an external drive. Obviously, that might be insufficient. Your most important thing could be that one you were working on when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Hebem, that work similarly. For instance, Mppn, Uyit, Mbtf, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Hebem are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become encrypted, their extensions altered, ransom notes emerge in every directory containing encoded files.

Some lucky users were able to decode the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware experts. Sometimes the racketeers mistakenly send the decoding key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a criminals’ instrument to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How сan I avoid ransomware injection?

Hebem ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can protect your computer from its infiltration in three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown mailboxes with strange 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?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the dubious email with caution. A fake email will surely contain mistakes.
• Never use cracked or unknown programs. Trojan viruses are often shared as a part of cracked products, possibly under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to tell from reliable software, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. Try to find information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best way is not to use such software.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft⁴

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

🤔 Is it possible to open “.hebem ” files?

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

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

If the “.hebem ” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. 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 Hebem virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the encrypted files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to send 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 storage might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a notebook, phone, external storage, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs⁶ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a restoration, but be advised: you can do it only after you eradicate the ransomware itself with an antivirus 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.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. Here’s the list of Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.