NoEscape Ransomware 🔐 Virus Removal Guide

Virus analyst Tomas Meskauskas was the person who originally described the Noescape virus, which falls within the Avaddon ransomware family. A harmful program of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (images, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, leaving the HOW_TO_RECOVER_FILES.txt files in each directory containing encrypted files.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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What is Noescape virus?

☝️ A scientifically correct denomination for the Noescape is “a Avaddon family ransomware malicious agent”.

In every folder with the encrypted files, a HOW_TO_RECOVER_FILES.txt text file will be created. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. That is basically the scheme of the malefaction.

Noescape summary:

The HOW_TO_RECOVER_FILES.txt document accompanying the Noescape malware provides the following discouraging information:

Your network has been infected
But don\'t worry we can help you!

Your network has been hacked. Your company documents, databases and all your important files have been encrypted.

To get your data back and restore your entire network you need to buy our special software.

Only we can guarantee you the safe recovery of all your files. Do not try to restore or modify files yourself.
NoEscape Decryptor price is 25,000 USD

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25,000 USD

0.97111675 BTC

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Send 0.97111675 BTC (in ONE payment) to bc1qdgat979kzs5kej28xlvh2qwuf9lvckk8fy73f2

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Once the payment has been received, you will be able to download NoEscape Decryptor

Please be very careful when filling out payment information. Even when copying data.
Test NoEscape Decryptor

To make sure that we really can restore your network you can test our decryptor.

In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Noescape looks like. Each filename has the random extension added to it.

That is how encrypted files look.

How did my computer get infected with Noescape ransomware?

There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most popular ways for evil-doers to have the Noescape virus settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you access your inbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is unknown to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a viral file attached to them. Therefore, it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with letters like these.

Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan horse model. A Trojan is an object that gets into your machine pretending to be something legal. For example, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some service. However, what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful program that corrupts your data. As the update file can have any name and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the source of the files you’re downloading. The best way is to trust the software developers’ official websites.

As for the peer file transfer protocols like torrent trackers 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. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of the Noescape virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Noescape virus will probably install Vidar Stealer on your machine to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Sometimes criminals would decode several of your files so you know that they really have the decryption tool. As Noescape virus is a relatively recent ransomware, safety measures developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the decryption tools are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Sure thing, if the evildoers do the job of encoding someone’s critical data, the desperate person will most likely comply with their demands. However, paying to criminals gives no guarantee that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still risky. After getting the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports about hackers just disappearing after getting the ransom 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 drive. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all happened. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the system is rolled back.

There are other ransomware products, besides Noescape, that work similarly. For instance, Gatz, Xaro, Xatz, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Noescape are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become encoded, their extensions altered, ransom notes emerge in each directory containing encoded files.

Some fortunate users were able to decrypt the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware experts. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decoding code to the wronged in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the user to restore the files. But naturally, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How do I avert ransomware infiltration?

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

You can armour your system from ransomware attack in three easy steps:

• Never open any letters from unknown mailboxes with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (how can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are expecting, check all elements of the suspicious letter with caution. A fake letter will surely have a mistake.
• Do not use cracked or unknown programs. Trojans are often distributed as a part of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, untrusted programs are difficult to tell from trustworthy software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try to find information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.
• And to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, check them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a powerful 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 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 computer for Noescape 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

🤔 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 Noescape malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?

Of course not. Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with real viruses. The virus that has infected your device is probably still functional and running scans from time to time to encode any new files you might create on your computer after the infection. As it has been mentioned above, the Noescape ransomware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide criminals with easy access to your PC in the future.

🤔 What actions should I take if the Noescape virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

If that happened, you need to prepare a flash memory card with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the cleaning. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system launches and encodes any new files created or imported into your machine. To suppress this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential programs to run upon system start. Consider reading our manual on running Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Many of the encrypted files might still be at your disposal

• 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 relatives. Just ask them to post those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try doing it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, phone, flash memory, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs⁴ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, removing 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 virus with an antivirus program.

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. GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
3. More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
4. Here’s the list of Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.