DeroHE Ransomware - How to remove

DeroHE ransomware is a malicious program that was spread in fake promotional emails. Cybercriminals who hacked a legitimate website attacked its registered users and tried to get them to download malware. This malware – DeroHE ransomware – can encrypt user files, which results in these files being corrupted and impossible to open. DeroHE ransomware is potentially very harmful.

In short about DeroHE ransomware:

Threat type	Ransomware, trojan.
How DeroHE ransomware infects computers	It comes in malicious emails disguised as promotions from a software company, it’s included in the installer that is downloaded from a link within the fake emails.
How to get your files back	Restore them from your backup, make backups of these files and wait for a solution, do a system restore.
How to remove DeroHE malware	Use antivirus programs (Spyhunter, others) to remove malware.

Problems caused by DeroHE ransomware

It encrypts data

DeroHE is ransomware that was spread in a fake promotional email sent to IObit forum members and registered users. This email said that, as a forum member, the user got a free 1 year license for all IObit products. This ransomware would be hidden in a compromised installer that was downloaded by clicking the download link in that email.

Once run, the fake installer would ask you to wait and to keep your computer on. Then it would go through the files on the infected computer, encrypting them and changing their names to show that these files have been encrypted. For instance, a file called “document.pdf” would be changed to “document.pdf.DeroHE”.

Images, archives, and various text files are reportedly broken by DeroHE.

File-encrypting ransomware like DeroHE uses cryptography to make changes to data as if to scramble it, turning it into nonsense gibberish. This method of hiding information is used to secure online traffic so that no outsider can see what you’re browsing (What is HTTPS?).

But DeroHE’s authors used it to hurt people by corrupting their files.

It extorts the victims

The goal of DeroHE’s authors is to make money. It could also be to hurt IObit’s reputation, who knows. To the victims of DeroHE, the most important thing is that their lost a bunch of their files.

According to Bleepingcomputer.com, DeroHE ransomware creates a ransom note called READ_TO_DECRYPT.txt in which the criminals tell victims to ask IObit to pay their ransom or to themselves pay $100 worth of DERO, which is apparently a crypto currency of some sort.

It might be tempting to pay, but there are a few good reasons to not do this:

• Giving cybercriminals money rewards their crimes.
• It could also put you on a list as a potentially exploitable victim. There’s a chance you’ll be targeted in future attacks.
• There’s no guarantee that DeroHE’s creators can fix the encrypted files. This ransomware is new, it’s not yet known how it works exactly.

How to remove DeroHE

Can you restore your data?

The only way to fix the files encrypted by DeroHE is by getting the decryption program and the key. The only ones who have these keys are DeroHE’s creators. For now, you should watch the news and see if there are any new developments in the coming few weeks.

If you had a backup of your files, then you can bring back your data from them – but remember to delete all malware first.

If you didn’t have backups, then the situation is a bit more complicated:

• Make a backup of the files encrypted by DeroHE. Maybe a decryptor will become available. Just remember to not make any changes to these files, or else decryption might be impossible.
• Try to do a system restore.
• Use a data recovery tool to bring back deleted data.

The best way to stay safe against file-encrypting ransomware, such as Djvu, Dharma, Phobos, and others, is to keep backups of your files. You can use an external drive, cloud storage, or another method. This way, if ransomware infects your computer, your time will be wasted, but your files will be fine.

How to remove malware

Use antivirus software to detect and delete DeroHE and other malware. Spyhunter and other antivirus programs should be able to detect it now, even if they weren’t able to when DeroHE just appeared. It’s new, which is why your antivirus program might have failed to catch it initially.

Now, antivirus programs detect DeroHE as Trojan, Ransom, Encoder, Malware, and similar names (Virustotal.com).

DeroHE might have added itself to your exclusions list, which might also make it difficult to remove. See the exceptions in Defender and other antivirus programs (Support.microsoft.com).

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to recover DeroHE 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 → Restart → OK.
• Press F8 key repeatedly until Advanced Boot Options window appears.
• Choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

for Windows 8 / 10

• Press Power at Windows login screen. Then press and hold Shift key and click Restart.
• Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings and click Restart.
• When it loads, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list of Startup Settings.

 

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.
• Click “Next” in the windows that appeared.
• Select one of the Restore Points that are available before DeroHE Ransomware has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of DeroHE 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 DeroHE Ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore DeroHE 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 DeroHE 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 Properties → Previous 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.

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.

Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover DeroHE 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.

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.