The Iskaluz virus falls under the Paradise ransomware family. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its specific extension to every file, creating the #DECRYPT MY FILES#.txt text files in every directory which contains the encrypted files.
Iskaluz virus: what is known so far?
☝️ A scientifically correct denomination for the Iskaluz would be “a Paradise family ransomware-type infection”.
The scheme of renaming is this: [email_address].iskaluz. As a part of encryption, a file named, for example, “report.docx” will be renamed to “report.docx.[[email protected]].iskaluz”.
In each directory containing the encrypted files, a #DECRYPT MY FILES#.txt file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the Iskaluz developers. That is it.
Iskaluz abstract:
| Name | Iskaluz Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Paradise ransomware |
| Extension | .[email_address].iskaluz |
| Ransomware note | #DECRYPT MY FILES#.txt |
| Ransom | $400 |
| Detection | Win32/Expiro.NDO, Ransom:MSIL/LokiLocker.MK!MTB, Win32.Virlock.Gen.3 |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .[email_address].iskaluz extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Iskaluz virus |
The #DECRYPT MY FILES#.txt document coming in package with the Iskaluz ransomware provides the following dispiriting information:
YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED!!! Our email: ( [email protected] ) [Follow these steps, if you want the key that decrypts your files] 0. Send 400$ worth of Bitcoin to our wallet address ( 3CFMYb3QbWKpJZgWfufGfBKChp6dZDhs5H ) This website may help you to buy Bitcoin ( buybitcoinworldwide.com ) 1. Email us the payment transaction ID (TxID) with the file named ( DecryptionInfo ) which is in your Documents folder [ATTENTION] 0. Do not rename your encrypted files 1. Do not try to decrypt your files using third-party software, it may cause permanent files loss 2. Decrypting your files with the help of third parties may increase the fee, they add their fee to ours
In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Iskaluz looks like. Each filename has the “.[email_address].iskaluz” extension added to it.
![Iskaluz Virus - encrypted .[email_address].iskaluz files](https://howtofix.guide/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Iskaluz-files-virus.jpg)
That is how encrypted “.[email_address].iskaluz” files look.
How did my machine catch Iskaluz ransomware?
There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware injection.
There are currently three most exploited methods for criminals to have the Iskaluz virus settled in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.
If you access your inbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is strange to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a harmful item attached to them. So it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.
As for the peer networks like torrents or eMule, the threat 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 resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is finished.
How to remove the Iskaluz virus?
It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Iskaluz virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Sometimes criminals would decode several of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption tool. As Iskaluz virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software designers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. However, the decryption tools are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.
Understandably, if the criminals succeed in encrypting victim’s critical files, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying to racketeers 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 ransomware developers simply disappearing after getting the money without even writing back.
The optimal solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud storage or at least on an external drive. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most important thing could be that one you were working upon when it all happened. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the OS is rolled back.
There are other ransomware products, besides Iskaluz, that work similarly. Examples of those are Zaqi, Qqqw, Maak, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Iskaluz are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become inaccessible, their extensions altered, ransom notes emerge in each folder containing encoded 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 racketeers mistakenly send the decoding key to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the user to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How do I avert ransomware infiltration?
Iskaluz ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.
You can armour yourself from ransomware injection within three easy steps:
- Ignore any emails from unknown mailboxes with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a lottery without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, check all elements of the questionable letter with caution. A hoax letter will surely have mistakes.
- Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often distributed as a part of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” which prevents the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information on this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the best 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”.
FAQ
🤔 Can I somehow access “.[email_address].iskaluz” files?
Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.[email_address].iskaluz” files you will not be able to access them.
🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?
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. The rest of the methods require patience.
🤔 What should I do if the Iskaluz ransomware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.
🤔 And what should I do now?
Some of the encrypted files can be found elsewhere.
- If you exchanged your critical files via email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
- You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Just ask them to send those pictures back to you.
- If you have initially got any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
- Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files as well.
- Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, cellphone, external storage, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs5 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the video below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but be advised: you can do it only after you eradicate the ransomware itself 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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