PIZZASUCKER Virus 🔐 (.ICQ@PIZZASUCKER Files) — How to Remove?

The Pizzasucker virus falls under the Chaos ransomware family. Malware of such sort encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, leaving the read_it.txt text files in each directory with the encrypted files.

Pizzasucker virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A strictly accurate denomination for the Pizzasucker would be “a Chaos family ransomware infection”.

Pizzasucker will append its own .ICQ@PIZZASUCKER extension to the title of each encoded file. For instance, an image named “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.ICQ@PIZZASUCKER”. Likewise, the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.ICQ@PIZZASUCKER”, and so forth.

In each folder containing the encrypted files, a read_it.txt text file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can get this decrypting software after contacting ICQ contact specified in the changed file extension. That is how they do it.

Pizzasucker outline:

In the screenshot below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Pizzasucker looks like. Each filename has the “.ICQ@PIZZASUCKER” extension added to it.

How did Pizzasucker ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most popular ways for hackers to have ransomware settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer networks.

If you access your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is strange to you, beware of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a malware file attached to them. Thus it is even more dangerous 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 Web. You can never know what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Pizzasucker virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Pizzasucker virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware³ can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often tamperers would unblock few of your files to prove that they do have the decryption program. Since Pizzasucker virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decoding tools are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Understandably, if the tamperers succeed in encrypting victim’s critical files, the desperate person will most likely fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying to criminals does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about criminals simply vanishing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The best countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external disk. Of course, that might be not enough. The most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the OS is rolled back.

Pizzasucker is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. For instance, Qqmt, Qqjj, Vvyu, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Pizzasucker are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: files become encrypted, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in every directory containing encoded files.

Some fortunate victims were able to decrypt the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the criminals accidentally send the decoding key to the victims 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. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How do I avert ransomware infiltration?

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

You can defend your system from ransomware infiltration in three easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown mailers 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 more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the questionable letter carefully. A fake email will surely have mistakes.
• Never use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often shared as a part of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” to prevent the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy software, because trojans may also have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal 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

🤔 How can I open “.ICQ@PIZZASUCKER” files?Is it possible to open“.ICQ@PIZZASUCKER” files?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.ICQ@PIZZASUCKER” files first. Then you will be able to open them.

🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?

It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. If not, there is still a function of System Restore but it needs a Restore Point to be previously saved. All other solutions require time.

🤔 What actions should I take if the Pizzasucker malware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Some of the blocked files can be located elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important 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 send those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud disks might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a portable device, phone, external storage, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can use data recovery programs⁶ to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the tutorial 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 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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