Hese Cryptovirus - How to remove

Hese is malware that takes away your access to your own files. The files are still on your computer, but Hese locks them and tries to sell you the key for around a thousand dollars. This virus belongs to the STOP/Djvu family which claims new victims every day: people lose precious photographs, ongoing projects, work files, important records. The impact is severe on thoes who weren’t ready for such an infection.

Hese can easily be recognized by the “.hese” extension that this virus gives your files. What used to be “file.docx” becomes “file.docx.hese”. These files are not dangerous — they’re your files that the Hese cryptovirus has run through its encryption algorithm and then renamed. These files are safe, in fact, they’re not functional as long as they’re encrypted. Hese also creates a file called “_readme.txt” in which the demands of the criminals are laid out.

Update: those whose personal ID ends with “t1” can try using this decrypter that was developed by cybersecurity researchers.

Hese — extortion scheme

Hese is a lot like other file-encrypting viruses. Like Syrk, it disables the antivirus program on your machine. Also similarly, it spreads in various popular but illegitimate software products. But unlike it, Hese is quite secure and difficult, if not impossible, to decrypt without the help of the criminals who created it. The specific virus is new, but it’s derived from a well-established ransomware family Djvu, which has been releasing new and improved file-locking viruses for months (Kroput, Gero).

Don’t contact the criminals unless you absolutely have to. Cybersecurity experts and law enforcement advise to not deal with criminals like Hese’s developers. If you feel like you absolutely have to contact them, make sure to not allow them access to any of your sensitive data and don’t get your hopes up too high — paying the ransom does not solve all the problems with Hese’s attack.

Why it’s a bad idea to contact the criminals:

• The ransom is quite expensive. Consider if the files that Hese locked are really worth the thousand or so dollars that the ransomware’s developers are asking for.
• Private data can be leaked. Hese has spyware capabilities, and if you use the infected computer to do anything sensitive, such as logging in to an account that has a credit card saved, you risk this data being recorded and leaked. The spyware can be removed using an anti-malware tool.
• Statistically, paying the ransom does not guarantee the files being restored. A lot of those who pay end up losing or only partially restoring their data.
• If you reveal your identity (for example, your IP) to the criminals, they might mark you as someone willing to pay, and thus, a potentially lucrative target for later attacks.
• The money keeps the crypto-extortion business going and finances the criminal activities that later hurt other people. Of course, it’s the criminals who are responsible for their crimes, but their goal is to make money.

 

How to remove Hese and restore the files

The first thing to do is to delete Hese from your computer. The virus runs repeatedly and interferes with your work by encrypting any newly-created files. So, scan your computer with Spyhunter, or some other strong antivirus program. In the worst case, you can just reinstall Windows, but that shouldn’t be needed.

Important -- edit the hosts file to unblock security websites

TL DR : The hosts file is edited to block security sites Before the virus can be removed, it's necessary to fix the hosts file (the file which controls which addresses connect to which IPs). That is the reason the majority of security websites is inaccessible when infected with this particular parasite. This infection edits this file to stop certain websites, including anti-malware download sites, from being accessed from the infected computer, making browsers return the "This site can't be reached" error. Luckily, it's trivial to fix the file and remove the edits that were made to it.

Find and edit the hosts file

The hosts file can be found on C:/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc/hosts. If you don't see it, change the settings to see hidden files.

1. In the Start Menu, search for Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, find Appearance and Personalization.
3. Select Folder Options.
4. Open the View tab.
5. Open Advanced settings.
6. Select "Show hidden files...".
7. Select OK.

Open this file with administrator privileges.

1. Open the Start Menu and enter "notepad".
2. When Notepad shows up in the result, right-click on it.
3. In the menu, choose "Run as administrator"
4. File->Open and browse for the hosts file.

The hosts file should look like this: Delete additional lines that they connect various domain names to the wrong IP address. Save the file.

Download and run the antivirus program

After that, download antivirus programs and use them to remove the ransomware, the trojan, and other malware. Spyhunter (https://www.2-viruses.com/reviews/spyhunter/dwnld/).

Automatic Malware removal tools

If you don’t have backups, you’re probably curious about the other ways to get your files back. There are a few — some are described in the guide below this article. Data recovery and system restore have mixed results, but a few people have had great success restoring their files.

Hese is not decryptable without the decryption keys (sort of like the password for your files) which are generated separately for each victim and only known to the developers of Hese. There is one key that’s hardcoded in Hese — there to make sure that the ransomware will lock your files even if you disconnect your computer from the internet (that used to be an effective defense against ransomware). If any of your files were encrypted using that key, then it’s possible that those (and only those) files can be unlocked.

Stay safe against cryptovirus attacks

The ways in which file-encrypting viruses spread are many and diverse. Often it’s enough to have above-average security and some common sense to avoid most threats online, but the potential devastation that a single cryptovirus as powerful as Hese can cause demands more attention.

Most importantly, backups should be created to keep your files in. An offline external drive, or maybe cloud storage would be safe from whatever virus might infect your computer. Backups also protect against hardware failure, accidental deletion of files (though data recovery can help there, too — it’s described in the guide below). It’s worth keeping copies of your most valuable files on multiple devices.

Update your software, especially your security software. Use your antivirus to scan each file you download before running it. Scan your computer for risky software and remove it before it causes problems. Learn how to kill malicious processes. Recognize deceptive ads and websites that display those ads — avoid them as they can be used to infect devices with malware. Be careful, suspicious, and patient online — Hese is only one of many, many viruses lurking online.

How to recover Hese Cryptovirus 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 Hese Cryptovirus has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Hese Cryptovirus

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 Hese Cryptovirus. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Hese Cryptovirus 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 Hese Cryptovirus 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 Hese Cryptovirus 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.