Kovasoh Virus File (Djvu Ransomware) – Remove + Restore Files
Kovasoh – How Bad Is It? the Term “Ransomware” Actually Means the Software That Performs Some Malicious Modifications with Your Files and Asks You to Pay the...
Kovasoh – How bad is it?
The term “ransomware” actually means the software that performs some malicious modifications with your files and asks you to pay the ransom to get them back to the initial state. Kovasoh was first discovered by Michael Gillespie">1.
The infection originates from the Djvu ransomware family. Kovasoh is not much different from other ransomware samples. So it encrypts all popular file types. As soon as the certain file is encrypted users are not able to work with it. Kovasoh sets the “.kovasoh” extension into each file it encrypts. For instance, the file “my-photo.jpg”, upon being encrypted by Kovasoh, will be changed into “my-photo.jpg.kovasoh”. Upon the encryption completion, Kovasoh generates a specific text file (for example “_readme.txt”) and puts it into every folder where the encrypted information is stored.
The scary notification produced by Kovasoh warning demanding for the ransom to be paid is literally the same as the alerts presented by other ransomware samples that derive from the Djvu kind of infection. It basically indicates that the data is encrypted by it and that the just remedy to decrypt it is to apply a one-of-a-kind decryption key (decryptor). It is quite regretful to admit that this is an absolutely true statement.
The variant of the cryptography method implemented by Kovasoh is yet not duly researched. At the same time, it is definitely true that each user whose data got encrypted might be issued a special decryption key, which is definitely a distinct and there are no other variations of it. It is quite unlikely that users will manage to recover the files without the key in place.
Once Kovasoh is active it is impossible for people to get access to the key, which is located on a remote server controlled by the criminals related to Kovasoh ransomware.
In order to obtain the key and restore the necessary data users are forced to actually pay the ransom, which equals to $980. To get the payment information users are told to get in touch with the criminals by means of sending an email or by telegram.
The warning also states that the victims should contact the Kovasoh representatives within 72 hours beginning from the moment of data encryption. The alert indicates that by contacting within 72 hours people will be given a 50% rebate, thus the ransom figure will be decreased to $490). Nevertheless, no matter what the requested sum is, you should not pay the ransom!
What about paying the Kovasoh ransom?
If you believe that paying the demanded ransom is the just solution, I need to mention a few things peculiar to that option. The crook who is using the Ransomware virus tool absolutely wants you to believe that there is truly no other way-out to restore the data.
Definitely, as you might think, the ransom is generally meant to be transferred under certain specific pre-defined regulations and rules. Often this is done by means of Bitcoins as a transfer currency. The application of Bitcoins is often the preferred way by cyber frauds because such transfers are extremely unlikely to get tracked.
Due to this feature of the bitcoins, they are applied by hackers that intend to scare the targeted users by using ransomware . The use of such hard-to-track virtual currency is the key factor why almost all ransomware frauds manage to remain anonymous after successfully completing their covetous fraudulent goals.
Nevertheless, in many cases, even the payment of the demanded ransom might not assist the virus victims as it is quite likely that they may not get any file-decryption data. In events like these, it is very important that the user tries all other available options that might be in place – paying the money is most certainly not the good idea and must not be the main solution.
Online crooks cannot be trusted, they totally don’t care what you feel about the trouble with your data, even when you do pay the ransom. For this reason, paying the amount asked by these frauds does not bring you to the positive resolution of your problem. So, you just lose your funds for nothing.
I definitely recommend that you do not get in touch with these frauds and do not send money into their pockets. Currently, there are no applications capable of cracking Kovasoh ransomware or restoring the encrypted information at no cost. Hence, the just feasible solution is to restore the lost information from the backup, as long as it is available.
The scary alert demanding from users to pay the ransom to decrypt the compromised data contains these frustrating warnings
You ought to be aware that the online realm currently is full of infections that look pretty much the same as the Kovasoh virus. Hazardous applications classified as ransomware are generally developed to encrypt crucial files and to express the demand before the victim to eventually transfer the ransom amount into the pockets of the frauds standing behind them.
The feature of all such ransomware infections is that they refer to a similar mechanism for generating the standalone decryption key to decrypt the compromised data.
Hence, unless the ransomware is still under development or has some concealed flaws, manually restoring the data is something you can’t really do. The just remedy to avoid the loss of your important files is to permanently make backups of your important data.
Keep in mind that even if you make such backups, they must be immediately put into a special location not associated with your main workstation.
For example, the backup may be stored on the USB flash drive or some other external hard drive device. Alternatively, you may use the service of online (cloud) data storage.
Of course, when you keep your backup data on your regular system, it may be easily encrypted as well as other documents.
Hence, storing the backup on your main PC is definitely not a reasonable decision.
Marcus Vance is a cybersecurity auditor and technology writer dedicated to educating the public about online safety, data privacy regulations, enterprise security, and emerging cyber threats.
