SMILE DOG Ransomware 🔐 (.SMILE Files) — How to Remove?

The Smile dog virus belongs to the ransomware type of infection. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (images, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, leaving the SMILEJPG.txt text files in every folder with the encrypted files.

What is Smile dog virus?

☝️ A strictly accurate designation for the Smile dog is “a ransomware-type infection”.

Smile dog appends its specific .sMilE extension to the title of each encrypted file. For instance, a file named “photo.jpg” will be turned into “photo.jpg.sMilE”. Likewise, the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will be altered to “table.xlsx.sMilE”, and so forth.

In each directory containing the encrypted files, a SMILEJPG.txt 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 remarks. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the Smile dog developers. You can get this tool after contacting [email protected] by email. That is it.

Smile dog summary:

The SMILEJPG.txt document coming in package with the Smile dog malware provides the following dispiriting information:

ALL YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED BY THE SMILE DOG RANSOMWARE CONTACT [email protected]

In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Smile dog looks like. Each filename has the “.sMilE” extension appended to it.

How did my computer get infected with Smile dog ransomware?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited methods for tamperers to have ransomware acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer networks.

If you access your inbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is unknown to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a ransomware file enclosed in them. So it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with letters like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan file model. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your machine pretending to be something different. For instance, you download an installer for some program you want or an update for some program. But what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful agent that encrypts your data. As the installation package can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the files you’re downloading. The best way is to use the software developers’ official websites.

As for the peer file transfer protocols like torrents 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 resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded items with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How to remove the Smile dog virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Smile dog virus will probably install Vidar Stealer on your machine to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes criminals would decrypt several of your files so you know that they do have the decryption program. As Smile dog virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a method to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Of course, if the tamperers succeed in encrypting someone’s critical data, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. However, paying to criminals gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still risky. After getting the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports of hackers simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal countermeasure to 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. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon 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.

Smile dog is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. Examples of those are Coty, Foza, Coza, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Smile dog are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky people were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decryption key to the wronged 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. Remember, ransomware is a criminals’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How do I avert ransomware infiltration?

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

You can defend your system from ransomware attack in several easy steps:

• Ignore any letters 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 participating in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the questionable email with caution. A fake email will always contain a mistake.
• Never use cracked or unknown programs. Trojan viruses are often distributed as an element of cracked products, most likely as a “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable software, because trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try to find information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such software.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft¹

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

🤔 How can I open “.sMilE” files?Is it possible to open“.sMilE” files?

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

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

If the “.sMilE” 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. The rest of the methods require patience.

🤔 What should I do if the Smile dog malware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Many of the encrypted files might still be within your reach

• If you sent or received 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. Just ask them to send those pictures 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 disks might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a laptop, cellphone, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery utilities³ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you eradicate the ransomware itself with an anti-malware 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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