Do you know what Damage Ransomware is?
If you are under attack by Damage Ransomware, unfortunately, you may lose all your personal files, including your images, videos, archives, and program files. Your only savior could be a backup on a portable drive. However, if you are not the security-minded kind and do not save regular copies on a removable hard disk of some sort, your only chance would be to comply with the demands of these criminals and pay the ransom fee. Our researchers warn you though that this may not be the best to do. On one hand, you may support cyber criminals in this way and on the other hand, you may not even get the decryption key or tool that you pay for. All in all, you are better off staying away from these criminals. We advise you to remove Damage Ransomware ASAP although even this cannot help you with the damage it has already done to your files. We cannot confirm it as of yet but if this infection can be cracked, malware hunters will likely to have a free file recovery application available soon. But before you jump to the end of this article and try to delete this major threat, we would like to share some vital bits of information about this ransomware that may help you understand this type of infection better.
Our researchers have tested this infection in our internal lab and concluded that this malware program could be a newcomer from the well-known Crysis family that includes Ecovector3@aol.com Ransomware and Alex.vlasov@aol.com Ransomware among others. It might come as a shocker to you but it is actually you who let this major threat on board and infected your computer with it. Many users believe that such dangerous malware infections only slither onto their system by some unknown “magic” because they just seem to show up out of the clear blue sky. Well, let us help you understand how it is possible that this threat can sneak onto your PC without your noticing it.
First, the most probable way for this ransomware to be distributed on the net is via spamming campaigns. This means that you get a spam e-mail that will try to strike you as the carrier of a very urgent matter. This can be accomplished by fake sender names and e-mail addresses that could be existing ones belonging to state departments, law enforcement offices, parking authorities, reputable companies, and so on. Moreover, the subject matter such a spam refers to could also be very misleading and convincing at the same time. This mail could pose as a matter relating to an urgent unsettled invoice, an issue with a hotel room booking, problems with your bank account, and the like. Most people could not resist temptation to check out what is this really about. However, once you open this mail and save the attached file to see the supposed invoice or any other claimed document, you will simply activate this malicious attack. This is why it is already too late when you reach the stage to delete Damage Ransomware from your computer since your files will have already been all encrypted by that time.
Hopefully you will see now why it is essential to be more cautious when opening mails since you cannot trust your spam filter 100% that no harmful mail will avoid detection. After you save this malicious attachment, which can be disguised as a text file with macro, a video, or an image file, you will most likely click to see its content. As we have mentioned before, this is the moment that you initiate this dangerous attack. Your most precious files are targeted by this ransomware, including your photos, videos, documents, archives, and more. These files are encrypted with the most widely used AES algorithm and their extension is modified by appending ".damage" to the end to make it clear what you are up against. A text file is supposed to be created on your desktop that is the ransom note and should have a name format like “damage@india.com[your User Name].txt.
This ransom note file contains limited information about this attack and actually it only instructs you to send an e-mail to “damage@india.com” to get information about the amount of the ransom fee as well as a Bitcoin address to transfer it to. We have no information with regard to the amount so we can only tell you that it might be anything between $120 and $1,200 worth of BTC, which is the usual rate. Of course, in extreme cases this fee can reach thousands of dollars but mainly when corporation are in the crosshairs of cyber criminals. Although paying this fee may seem to you as the last resort to get your files back, we still advise you to remove Damage Ransomware without ever contacting these crooks.
Before you could delete the related files, you need to end the malicious process by launching your Task Manager, which, luckily for you, is not blocked. Please use our guide below if you feel ready to eliminate this major threat. Hopefully, you also see the lesson here and you will make sure in the future that you have a backup copy of your files on a removable hard disk of some sort (HDD, pendrive, etc). If you see now how easy it is to infect your computer even with such a dangerous ransomware program, you may want to consider the installation of a reliable anti-malware program, such as SpyHunter.
Remove Damage Ransomware from Windows
- Tap Ctrl+Shift+Esc simultaneously to launch your Task Manager.
- Locate the malicious process (it may have a random name) and click End task.
- Exit the Task Manager.
- Tap Win+E.
- Delete the malicious .exe file (it may have a random name) you saved from the spam. (You may find it in default folders, e.g., Documents, Downloads, and Temp.
- Delete the ransom note file (“damage@india.com[your User Name].txt”) from your desktop. (It might be in a different folder.)
- Empty the Recycle Bin and reboot your system.
In non-techie terms:
Damage Ransomware is a new threat that can cost you your files if you are not well-prepared and do not have a backup copy of your most important files. This ransomware can encrypt your precious files in no time really and only unlock them if you pay a certain amount of ransom fee. But you should never trust such cyber criminals to deliver as promised. On the other hand, by transferring money to crooks is tantamount to supporting online crime. We recommend that you remove Damage Ransomware right away if you want to use your computer again. If manual removal is not your cup of tea, we suggest that you employ a reliable anti-malware program that can automatically take care of all your security-related issues.