Qewe Virus (. Qewe Files Ransomware) – Decrypt & Removal Tool

What is “Qewe”?

Ransomware is a kind of virus that encrypted your documents and then forces you to pay for them. Note that DJVU (aka STOP) ransomware family was first revealed and analyzed by virus analyst Michael Gillespie">².

Qewe is similar to other ransomware like: Lezp, Lalo, Mpaj. It encrypted all popular file types. Hence, users cannot use the your documents . Qewe adds its particular “.qewe” extension into all files. For instance, the file “video.avi”, will be changed into “video.avi.qewe”. As soon as the encryption is accomplished, Qewe drops a specific text file “_readme.txt” and puts it into all folders that contain the modified files.

This text asking payment is for get files back via decryption key:

The cryptography algorithm used by Qewe is AES-256. So, if your files got encrypted with a specific decryption key, which is totally unique and there are no other copies. The sad reality is that it is impossible to recover the information without the unique key available.

In case if Qewe worked in online mode, it is impossible for you to gain access to the AES-256 key. It is stored on a distant server owned by the frauds who promote the Qewe infection.

For receiving decryption key the payment should be $980. To obtain the payment details the victims are encouraged by the message to contact the frauds by email (), or via Telegram.

Do not pay for Qewe!

_readme.txt file also indicates that the computer owners must get in touch with the Qewe representatives during 72 hours starting from the moment of files where encrypted. On the condition of getting in touch within 72 hours, users will be granted a 50% rebate, thus the ransom amount will be minimized down to $490). Yet, stay away from paying the ransom!

I strongly advise that you do not contact these frauds and do not pay. The one of the most real working solution to recover the lost data – just using the available backups, or use Decrypter tool.

The peculiarity of all such viruses apply a similar set of actions for generating the unique decryption key to recover the ciphered data.

You can figure out if your files were encrypted with online or offline key. You need to find PersonalID file in SystemID folder, which is located on C:/. If this file contains an entity which ends with offline key. That means your files can be decrypted in the shortest possible time. If none, you need to wait until Qewe ransomware distributors wouldn’t give them away.

Qewe ransomware does a typical for STOP/Djvu ransomware family actions with Windows system components. The first element under attack is the registry. Ransomware adds own .exe file to RunOnce registry key. Hence, if the encryption started, it will not be interrupted by system reboots or user, who stopped a suspicious process using the Task Manager.

Another popular action for Qewe ransomware is hosts file editing. This file contains a list with DNS-adresses for some sites, and if none are in this file, default will be used. The main sophistication is in next action : it adds an additional entry of Microsoft update server, specifying it’s DNS as 127.0.0.1 – an IP adress of your localhost (i.e. your PC). After such manipulation your Windows will lost an ability to get any update, which can wipe out some system component changes done by Qewe ransomware. Fortunately, hosts file can be easily edited.

Thus, unless the ransomware is still under the stage of development or possesses some hard-to-track flaws, manually recovering the ciphered data is a thing you can’t really perform. The only solution to prevent the loss of your valuable data is to regularly make backups of your crucial files.

Note that even if you do maintain such backups regularly, they ought to be put into a specific location without loitering, not being connected to your main workstation.

For instance, the backup may be kept on the USB flash drive or some alternative external hard drive storage. Optionally, you may refer to the help of online (cloud) information storage.

Needless to mention, when you maintain your backup data on your common device, it may be similarly ciphered as well as other data.

For this reason, locating the backup on your main device is surely not a wise idea.