Dalle Ransomware - How to remove

Losing all of your files on your computer seems quite devastating, and that could be the result of a Dalle infection. Dalle encrypts your whole disk, with the exception of the operating system’s files, without which the virus couldn’t work correctly. The reason for corrupting the files is money, which the criminals behind Dalle expect to receive form their desperate victims.

What are Dalle files?

The Dalle virus can easily be recognized by the way it changes the names of your files by appending “.dalle”. Can’t open those files now, and renaming doesn’t work, either. The problem is that the files, or parts of the files, were encrypted. In practice that means that your files were corrupted, sort of like taking a book and scrambling the letters. This is reversible in theory, but needs a certain key — one that’s unique to each victim and that only the developers of the Dalle virus know. Without it, the files cannot be decrypted.

So, the criminals want you to write to [email protected], [email protected], or @datarestore to learn how to pay them the money and get your Dalle decryption key. Basically, Dalle seized your files for cyber extortion.

Dalle explains this in the _readme.txt ransom note.

Don’t worry, you can return all your files!
All your files like photos, databases, documents and other important are encrypted with strongest encryption and unique key.
The only method of recovering files is to purchase decrypt tool and unique key for you.

There is a pice set, too — $980 or $490. Evidently, this activity is lucrative because the STOP/DJVU virus is still dangerous, months after it started. Over time, more and more functionality was added to the ransomware: the ability to mess with your antivirus program, to stop you from going to certain websites, etc.

Can the files be restored?

The real question is, how to restore your files. The answer is that it might not be possible. Not just because Dalle encrypted the infected backup files if they were stored connected to the computer, but also because if you give in and pay the ransom, there’s no guarantee that the files are recovered — too many crypto extortionists have taken the money and ran.

One chance that you have is the decryption tool STOPDecrypter, created by a person known as @demonslay335. He has been supporting the decryption of new variants of STOP/DJVU ransomware by finding the offline keys. As I said, it’s impossible to decrypt the .dalle files without getting the decryption key from the extortionists. However, sometimes there’s no way for Dalle to contact its developers and get the encryption key. So instead it uses the offline key, which is common among many victims. If you have unstable internet, check STOPDecrypter if or when it’s updated to support Dalle.

Ultimately, it’s important to have a copy of your data stored somewhere separate from your computer. It could be a cloud service, it could be an external drive that you don’t keep connected. Dalle and viruses like it aren’t scary when you know that you still have all of your data.

How people get hit with Dalle

It’s helpful to examine how people get hit with ransomware so that you can avoid that in the future:

  • Pirated software cracks.
  • Infected e-mail attachments.
  • Free software downloads.

That last one might be the most difficult to avoid. It’s not always obvious when a program is going to be real or fake. If you have any doubts at all, it would be good to take precautions: scan the URL, see if it’s associated with suspicious sites, if the files it downloads are malicious or not. Of course, this data isn’t always available, especially when the virus is new. That’s why STOP/DJVU keeps releasing new versions — Dalle, Roland, Horon are all very similar, but released separately to fool antivirus programs and hinder decryption efforts.

I’d say that you must scan your files before opening them, but pirated software cracks would be detected whether or not they had Dalle hiding inside. The problem with piracy, other than that it’s illegal, is just how risky it is. Plenty of trojans, miners, and ransomware have been distributed using filesharing networks.

A file that includes some malicious could spread Dalle and other ransomware viruses by tricking people into downloading them. Infected e-mail attachments work by the same principle as social media messages that spread malicious links: they get the recipient interested; e-mails do that by talking about urgent payments, documents that need reviewing, and have a link or an attachment. Opening the infected file is a very bad idea.

dalle ransom note screenshot

How to remove Dalle virus

It would be smart to remove Dalle before it can encrypt your new files. Luckily, Dalle is recognized as a malicious program by a lot of antivirus applications. If your current antivirus isn’t working, you can pick from Spyhunter, and others. At works, you might have to scan your device after connecting it as a slave to another device to prevent Dalle from messing with yout antivirus tools.

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How to recover Dalle Ransomware encrypted files and remove the virus

Step 1. Restore system into last known good state using system restore

1. Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt:


for Windows 7 / Vista/ XP
  • Start Shutdown RestartOK.
  • Press F8 key repeatedly until Advanced Boot Options window appears.
  • Choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Windows 7 enter safe mode

for Windows 8 / 10
  • Press Power at Windows login screen. Then press and hold Shift key and click Restart. Windows 8-10 restart to safe mode
  • Choose TroubleshootAdvanced OptionsStartup Settings and click Restart.
  • When it loads, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list of Startup Settings. Windows 8-10 enter safe mode
 

2.Restore System files and settings.

  • When Command Prompt mode loads, enter cd restore and press Enter.
  • Then enter rstrui.exe and press Enter again.CMD commands
  • Click “Next” in the windows that appeared. Restore point img1
  • Select one of the Restore Points that are available before Dalle Ransomware has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”. Restore point img2
  • To start System restore click “Yes”. Restore point img3
 

Step 2. Complete removal of Dalle Ransomware

After restoring your system, it is recommended to scan your computer with an anti-malware program, like Spyhunter and remove all malicious files related to Dalle Ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Dalle Ransomware affected files using Shadow Volume Copies

If you do not use System Restore option on your operating system, there is a chance to use shadow copy snapshots. They store copies of your files that point of time when the system restore snapshot was created. Usually Dalle Ransomware tries to delete all possible Shadow Volume Copies, so this methods may not work on all computers. However, it may fail to do so. Shadow Volume Copies are only available with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. There are two ways to retrieve your files via Shadow Volume Copy. You can do it using native Windows Previous Versions or via Shadow Explorer. a) Native Windows Previous Versions Right-click on an encrypted file and select PropertiesPrevious versions tab. Now you will see all available copies of that particular file and the time when it was stored in a Shadow Volume Copy. Choose the version of the file you want to retrieve and click Copy if you want to save it to some directory of your own, or Restore if you want to replace existing, encrypted file. If you want to see the content of file first, just click Open.
Previous version
b) Shadow Explorer It is a program that can be found online for free. You can download either a full or a portable version of Shadow Explorer. Open the program. On the left top corner select the drive where the file you are looking for is a stored. You will see all folders on that drive. To retrieve a whole folder, right-click on it and select “Export”. Then choose where you want it to be stored.
Shadow explorer

Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover Dalle Ransomware encrypted files

There are several data recovery programs that might recover encrypted files as well. This does not work in all cases but you can try this:
  • We suggest using another PC and connect the infected hard drive as slave. It is still possible to do this on infected PC though.
  • Download a data recovery program.
  • Install and scan for recently deleted files. Data Recovery Pro
Note: In many cases it is impossible to restore data files affected by modern ransomware. Thus I recommend using decent cloud backup software as precaution. We recommend checking out Carbonite, BackBlaze, CrashPlan or Mozy Home.
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