TENG SNAKE Virus 🔐 (Red_Tel.txt Ransom Note) — How to Remove?

The Teng snake virus belongs with the ransomware type of infection. Malware of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (photos, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, leaving the Red_Tel.txt text files in every directory which contains the encrypted files.

What is Teng snake virus?

☝️ A strictly accurate description for the Teng snake would be “a ransomware malicious agent”.

Teng snake will add 4 random characters extension to every file’s title. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be turned into “photo.jpg.hs7q”. In the same manner, the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.uja1”, and so on.

In each folder that contains the encrypted files, a Red_Tel.txt text document will appear. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. You can obtain this decrypting software after contacting Telegram contact through email. That is how they do it.

Teng snake overview:

The Red_Tel.txt document coming in package with the Teng snake malware states the following:

Dear hacked user, hello:
When you see this message, your intranet has been completely compromised, and the core data and handicap have been encrypted
In order to ensure that your business will not be affected, please remit 10000 / USDT to the designated address within 1-2 days
And contact our person in charge to unlock
If you still do not receive your reply within 2 days, all your data will be destroyed
TRC20: TE2pgcJCqTLrpuwKQn4gwgUgSgxdjvBpTt
Telegram: hxxps://t.me/CFGTGO_KEY


What we will provide:
Core Data Decryption Tool
Handicap Vulnerability Report
Intranet Security Precautions

In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Teng snake looks like. Each filename has the “.4 random characters” extension added to it.

How did my computer get infected with Teng snake ransomware?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for criminals to have ransomware planted in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection 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 mailer is unknown to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a malicious file enclosed in them. So it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the peer networks like torrents or eMule, the threat 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. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.

How do I get rid of the Teng snake virus?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Teng snake virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware² can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often tamperers would decrypt several of your files so you know that they do have the decryption program. Since Teng snake virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software designers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decoding instruments are constantly upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Understandably, if the criminals succeed in encrypting someone’s critical data, the desperate person will probably fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After getting the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports about racketeers just 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 essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external drive. Surely, that might be insufficient. The most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the system restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Teng snake, that work similarly. For instance, Mppn, Uyit, Maos, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Teng snake are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: files become inaccessible, their extensions changed, ransom notes are created in each folder containing encoded files.

Some lucky users were able to decrypt the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware specialists. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the user to restore the files. But obviously, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How to avoid ransomware infiltration?

Teng snake ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, neither does any similar malware.

You can protect yourself from ransomware attack in three easy steps:

• Ignore any emails from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the dubious email carefully. A fake email will always contain mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or unknown software. Trojans are often shared as a part of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try to find information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the best 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”.

FAQ

🤔 How can I open “.4 random characters” files?Is it possible to open“.4 random characters” files?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.4 random characters” files are decrypted.

🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?

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.

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

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the blocked files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might 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 Internet, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, cellphone, flash memory, etc.

HINT: You can employ file recovery programs⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before 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.

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