QNBQW virus - How to remove

Amongst all the ransomware viruses that are targeting mindless internet users, there is a new one called QNBQW. This threat acts as a typical ransom demanding malware, however, there is not much information about it yet. It distributes via Malicious email attachments and Bundling, installs without the permission and encrypts all your precious personal data with a hard to solve algorithm.

Crypto-extortionists are one of the hardest to resolve infections because even if you manage to remove the virus from the computer itself, you will still have encrypted files, which can only be decrypted if you have the special tool or a unique key from the crooks. Despite all that don’t pay the hackers but try our constructed guide on how we usually solve the ransomware made problems below.

Qnbqw Virus quicklinks

• What do we know about QNBQW malware
• How does the QNBQW virus spread and infect the systems
• Automatic Malware removal tools
• How to recover QNBQW virus 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:
• 2.Restore System files and settings.
• Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover QNBQW virus encrypted files

Download Spyhunter
(Win)

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Download Combo Cleaner
(Mac)

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What do we know about QNBQW malware

This QNBQW crypto-extortionist infects any internet surfer that is unaware of potential threats hiding behind the malicious email attachments, software and dangerous websites/ads. After the initial download virus copies itself into the registry and Windows directories so it would be displayed even after the system restart. 

At the same time, it is programmed to look for the certain types of files with . jpg, .doc, .png, .pdf, .mp3, .mp4 and other similar kinds of data. Crooks literally kidnap your personal files by encrypting them with a difficult cipher so no one could access them, except for the hacker. QNBQW uses the https://thebestvpn.com/advanced-encryption-standard-aes/ to lock the files and marks them by adding .qnbqw extension to the file’s name (eg. compromised video.mp4 file becomes video.mp4.qnbqw). This widely used cipher is not as intricate as asymmetric RSA but still very hard to crack. 

After that QNBQW parasite drops the notepad file on the desktop called Notice.txt with a ransom message inside asking to contact the [email protected] to restore the files:

Your files were encrypted using AES-256 algorithm. Write me to e-mail: [email protected] to get your decryption key.
Your USERKEY: xxxxxx

As you can see the ransom note is not very informative and only gives the basic information like the hacker’s email and unique user’s recognition key, but it doesn’t say anything about how much the victim is expected to pay (usually it ranges from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars in the cryptocurrency) and what is going to happen to the encrypted files or etc. This gives an impression that the crooks behind this ransomware are pretty new to the game or the virus can still be in development.

How does the QNBQW virus spread and infect the systems

Since QNBQW is a new virus it is hard to tell what region does it target mostly and what spreading methods it prefers, but judging from all other features, it is clear that this ransomware is a fairly basic crypto-seeking threat and distributes probably just like other ransomware (Donut, RedEye, DiskDoctor) – as an infected attachment under the socially engineered email.

Crooks send the smartly written emails to the targeted audience about some sort of issue, receipt, government notification and etc., making the victim click on the attachment for more information but that file is the virus itself. It takes only a minute and you notice that all the personal files are locked and you get the ransom note saying that your system has been infected.

During that short minute, the QNBQW ransomware quickly downloads all the necessary scripts to affect the system, makes changes in the registry for the persistence, overrides the antivirus, scans the files that will be encrypted, but doesn’t destroy it completely, so the infected internet surfer could still be motivated to pay the ransom.

Yet you can download QNBQW crypto-extortionist from the shady websites together with torrents, fake updates, freeware, software program packages and etc. Always make sure that you check on what you let into your computer and what you click on. For that read our Ultimate Guide against the Ransomware.

What is the best solution of QNBQW infection

Before starting to recover your damaged computer by the QNBQW virus you should know that it is really important to get rid of all malicious files from the compromised operating system because this malware is really persistent and can interfere with restoring files, keep infecting your PC. There are a couple methods which can be used to eliminate the ransomware virus, yet none of them will unlock the files.

Even though the manual removal method is not as efficient as the automatic for many reasons, sometimes it is necessary because the virus affects the system so much that the user can’t download or install any new software. For this or some other reason we have prepared the instructions which will help to at least clean the infected PC. 

There is no decryption tool for QNBQW ransomware at the moment, but you can check the constantly updated list on Heimdal. On the other hand, it doesn’t hurt to try restoring the files using the Shadow Volume copies (which sometimes get deleted by the malware) or backups (if you are routinely making them!).

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

 

Step 2. Complete removal of QNBQW virus

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 QNBQW. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore QNBQW virus 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 QNBQW 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 QNBQW virus 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.