TellYouThePass Virus (.locked Files of Ransomware) — How to remove virus?

Security expert GrujaRS was the person who, for the first time, described the Tellyouthepass virus, which falls under the ransomware type of malicious agent. Malware of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (photos, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file, leaving the README.html text files in every folder with the encrypted files.

Tellyouthepass virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A scientifically accurate description for the Tellyouthepass is “a ransomware infection”.

Tellyouthepass will add its own .locked extension to the title of each encrypted file. For example, a file entitled “photo.jpg” will be altered to “photo.jpg.locked”. In the same manner, the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.locked”, and so on.

In each folder that contains the encoded files, a README.html notebook file will be found. It is a ransom money note. It contains information on 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. You can get this decrypting software after contacting [email protected] by email. That is it.

Tellyouthepass outline:

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

How did Tellyouthepass ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular ways for tamperers to have the Tellyouthepass virus acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you open your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is unknown to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a viral item enclosed in them. Thus it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer networks like torrents 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. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is complete.

How to remove the Tellyouthepass virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Tellyouthepass virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your PC to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware² can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Often criminals would decrypt some of your files so you know that they do have the decryption tool. Since Tellyouthepass virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software engineers have not yet found a method to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.

Sure thing, if the tamperers do the job of encrypting someone’s critical files, the hopeless person will most likely fulfill their demands. Nevertheless, paying to criminals does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the victim. There were reports about malefactors simply disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The optimal safety measure against ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud disk or at least on an external drive. Of course, that might be insufficient. Your most important thing could be that file you were working on when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the system restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Tellyouthepass, that work similarly. Examples of those are Bom, Architek, Hello, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Tellyouthepass are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: documents become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes are found in every directory containing encrypted files.

Some lucky users were able to decode the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware developers. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decoding key to the victims in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But obviously, one should never rely on such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How сan I avert ransomware infection?

Tellyouthepass ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can defend yourself from ransomware infiltration within several 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 (how can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, check all elements of the suspicious email with caution. A fake email will surely contain a mistake.
• Avoid using cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often shared as a part of cracked software, most likely as a “patch” which prevents the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are difficult to tell from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way 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

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

Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.locked” files you will not be able to access them.

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

If the “.locked” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. If not, there is still a function of System Restore but it needs a Restore Point to be previously saved. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

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

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the encrypted files can be located elsewhere.

• If you sent or received your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Just ask them to give those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud disks might have all those files too.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, mobile, external storage, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can use data recovery utilities⁵ to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to use PhotoRec for such a restoration, 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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