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

The Olias virus falls under the Hakbit/Thanos ransomware family. Harmful software of this type encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, creating the THIS FOR RECOVERY.txt files in every folder containing encrypted files.

What is known about the Oliasvirus?

☝️ A strictly accurate designation for the Olias would be “a Hakbit/Thanos family ransomware-type infection”.

Olias will add its extra .olias extension to every file’s title. For instance, a file named “photo.jpg” will be renamed to “photo.jpg.olias”. Just like the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.olias”, and so on.

In every folder with the encrypted files, a THIS FOR RECOVERY.txt text document will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can get this decrypting software after contacting [email protected] by email. That is pretty much the scheme of the felony.

Olias outline:

In the picture below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Olias looks like. Each filename has the “.olias” extension added to it.

How did my computer get infected with Olias ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for malefactors to have ransomware 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 like familiar notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is unknown to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a viral item enclosed in them. So it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

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 guess what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.

How to remove the Olias virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Olias virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Often tamperers would decode few of your files so you know that they do have the decryption program. Since Olias virus is a relatively new ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a way to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decoding tools are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Understandably, if the evildoers do the job of encrypting someone’s critical data, the hopeless person will probably comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still risky. After receiving the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports about criminals simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal countermeasure to 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. Of course, that might be insufficient. The most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon when it all happened. But at least it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the OS restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Olias, that work similarly. For instance, Eewt, Adww, Oflg, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Olias are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become encoded, their extensions altered, ransom notes are created 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-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.

How do I avert ransomware attack?

Olias ransomware has no endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can protect your computer from ransomware attack in three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown mailboxes with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (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 waiting for, check all elements of the questionable letter carefully. A fake email will always contain mistakes.
• Avoid using cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often distributed as a part of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. You can try to find information about this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such programs at all.

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”.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 How can I open “.olias” files?Are the “.olias” files accessible?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.olias” 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. 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 should I do if the Olias ransomware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Many of the blocked files might still be at your disposal

• If you exchanged your critical files via email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to post those images back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Web, you can try downloading them again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, phone, flash memory, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ data recovery utilities⁵ to get your lost data back since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the video below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you can do it only after you kill 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?
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