Payfast Ransomware - How to remove

Payfast is a malicious program used by cybercriminals to infect computers and break files. The criminals then ask for a few hundred dollars to fix the data that Payfast encrypted.

Payfast locks your files so that they don’t open and their contents look like random noise. It adds the word “payfast” to the names of the locked files. Lastly, it leaves behind ransom notes that ask for money to be transferred to the attackers’ Bitcoin wallet.

Payfast ransomware in short:

Threat type	Ransomware.
How Payfast infects computers	Payfast can spread with phishing emails, hacked remote access accounts, etc., it encrypts files and changes their names, extortionists ask for hundreds of dollars to fix the files.
How to restore your data	Restore your backups, restore deleted data, repair those files that can be repaired.
How to remove Payfast ransomware	Find and delete malware with antivirus scanners (Spyhunter, others), make sure that the infection can’t repeat.

How Payfast ransomware works

Payfast is a type of Zeppelin

Payfast is file-locking ransomware. When it infects a computer, it encrypts files: documents, pictures, databases, and other common files. Encrypted files can’t be read because their contents are basically corrupted.

A password – a decryption key – is needed to reverse the encryption. This is where Payfast’s operators ask for money. These extortionists want hundreds of dollars in exchange for fixing the data that they broke with their malicious program.

Payfast is part of the Zeppelin ransomware family. Zeppelin ransomware is developed by a group that sells it to malicious actors to use freely. The people who buy Zeppelin ransomware then operate it: infect computers and collect ransom payments.

There are many ways in which ransomware infects computers: they might hide in malicious email attachments, get uploaded on shady file download sites, get installed manually by attackers after they hack a remote desktop account, etc.

Payfast encrypts data and changes file names

When Payfast infects a computer, it encrypts files – scrambles their contents to make them impossible to read.

Payfast also changes the names of the files that it encrypts, adding “payfast” and a unique id made up of random numbers to the end of the name.

picture.jpg.payfast467.435-523-523

This new text appended to the name of each file doesn’t do anything other than label which files were encrypted by Payfast. The real harm is inside the files – you can open a text file and see what the contents look like.

Payfast leaves ransom notes called “!!! ALL YOUR FILES ARE ENCRYPTED !!!.TXT”. In these notes, the attackers give their contacts ([email protected], @payfast500 (Telegram)) and a ransom demand – 500 dollars.

Can you get your data back?

The good news is that, currently, Zeppelin ransomware doesn’t steal data, which means that the people behind Payfast can’t leak your private data.

If you have a backup of your files, then you can just restore it after cleaning your computer.

But if you have no backups, then the situation is a bit more complicated.

There’s no free decryption option. Worse, there’s no way to know if you can trust the extortionists to help you fix your files if you pay the ransom. There are multiple teams of malicious actors spreading Zeppelin ransomware: some of them might be “fair”, others might be scammers.

Besides backups and paying the ransom, there are options such as file repair and recovery – they are described in more detail in our post on recovering files after a ransomware attack. If you hope to repair or decrypt the data that was locked by Payfast, keep it somewhere safe so that you always have a backup of these files. Small edits can make repair or decryption impossible.

How to delete Payfast ransomware

To find and delete malware – Payfast ransomware and other threats – you can use an antivirus program (Spyhunter, others). You can also reset your PC, but it’s still important to check that no malicious files are left.

It’s important to learn how Payfast infected your computer and to make sure that it can’t happen again.

For example, if malicious macros in Office documents were used, then consider disabling the macros warning alert so that users can’t allow macros.

If attackers got access to your Remote Desktop accounts, then change the passwords and use 2-factor authentication.

Most importantly, backup your data and store it somewhere separate from your computer, where malicious programs can’t reach.

Automatic Malware removal tools

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Payfast 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 Payfast 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 Payfast 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.