ZEROGUARD Virus (.ZEROGUARD Files) Removal

The Zeroguard virus falls within the ransomware type of malicious agent. A harmful program of this type encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, text files, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, creating the Readme.txt text files in each directory containing encrypted files.

What is Zeroguard virus?

The scheme of renaming is the following: contact-email.VICTIM_ID.ZeroGuard. In the course of encryption, a file named, for instance, “report.docx” will be renamed to “[email protected]”.

In each folder with the encoded files, a Readme.txt text file 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 instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can obtain this decrypting software after contacting [email protected] by email. That is how they do it.

Zeroguard Summary:

The Readme.txt file coming in package with the Zeroguard ransomware states the following:

Your network has been penetrated!


All files on each host in the network have been encrypted with a strong algorithm.


Backups were either encrypted or removed. Shadow copies were also removed, so using F8 or any other methods may damage the encrypted data but not recover it.


We exclusively have decryption software for your situation.


More than a year ago, world experts recognized the impossibility of deciphering the data by any means except the original decoder. No decryption software is available to the public. Antivirus companies, researchers, IT specialists, and no other persons can help you decrypt the data.


DO NOT RESET OR SHUTDOWN - files may be damaged. DO NOT DELETE readme files.

 

To confirm our honest intentions, send two different random files, and you will get them decrypted. They can be from different computers on your network to be sure that one key decrypts everything. We will unlock two files for free.


To contact us, please message us on Telegram. If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, then email us.


Contact information :


Telegram: @Zero_Guard


Mail : [email protected]


UniqueID: -


PublicKey: -
 
You will receive btc address for payment in the reply letter


No system is safe !

In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Zeroguard looks like. Each filename has the “.ZeroGuard” extension added to it.

How did Zeroguard ransomware end up on my PC?

There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for tamperers to have the Zeroguard virus working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer file transfer.

• If you access your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a malware file enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.
• Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan virus model. A Trojan is a program that gets into your PC pretending to be something else. For example, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some software. But what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful agent that encodes your data. As the update file can have any name and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the files you’re downloading. The best way is to use the software developers’ official websites.
• As for the peer-to-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 guess what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use 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 ransomware?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Zeroguard virus will probably deploy Vidar Stealer on your computer to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

How сan I avoid ransomware attack?

Zeroguard ransomware has no superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can defend yourself from its injection in several easy steps:

• Ignore any emails from unknown mailers with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (how 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 dubious letter carefully. A hoax email will always contain mistakes.
• Never use cracked or unknown programs. Trojan viruses are often shared as an element of cracked products, most likely as a “patch” preventing the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable software, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try to find information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best way is not to use such software.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 Can I somehow access “.ZeroGuard” files?

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

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

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 Zeroguard malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Some of the blocked data can be located elsewhere.

• If you sent or received your important files via email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to post those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Web, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, phone, flash memory, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs¹ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the video below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a restoration, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before you kill the virus with an antivirus program.

1. Here are Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.