Do you know what Termite Ransomware is?
The prevalence of ransomware infections has increased. Cyber criminals release more and more infections in order to obtain money from users. Termite Ransomware is one of the newest ransomware infections released recently. We can assure you that its successful entrance will not bring you anything pleasant. This malicious application will simply lock your personal files expecting that you will agree to pay money when you find out that your data is locked. Some files are more important than others. Usually, users say that they value their music files, videos, pictures, and documents the most. If you have encountered Termite Ransomware, you have no doubt found these files encrypted, but, please, do not send money to cyber criminals in this case. There is a huge possibility that you could still not unlock any of your files even if your purchase the decryptor because it might not work properly, or cyber criminals might not send it to you at all. You have to understand that they only want your money and do not care about your files. You will also encourage crooks to continue doing their dirty job and even releasing more infections by making a payment. You should completely erase malware from your PC instead of purchasing the decryptor.
Termite Ransomware drops its executable (termite.exe) to the Windows (C:\Windows) folder once executed. Then, it locks data on the affected computer and opens a window with a message in a foreign language. Most likely, this threat demands money as well. We know that your important files have been encrypted and you want them back, but we are also sure that sending money to malicious software developers is a silly idea. Since Termite Ransomware opens the window on the screen, you will not see your files locked. You will find out that they have been locked and now have a new extension (.Xiak) only after you close the launched message. Most likely, you could do that only by ending the service named payment.exe via Task Manager. We cannot promise that you will find a way to unlock encrypted files for free, but you should definitely try out all available free data recovery tools. It will not be a problem to retrieve files if you have backed them all up regularly – you could transfer files from a backup to your PC thus replacing those encrypted ones. Of course, the ransomware infection must be erased from the computer first.
Termite Ransomware screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions
Some ransomware infections are more prevalent than others, and it seems that Termite Ransomware belongs to the group of unpopular threats. Of course, it is still a new infection, so there is a possibility that it will evolve into a serious malware campaign in the future. Since Termite Ransomware is not very prevalent, we do not have much information about the methods used to spread it either. According to our team of malware researchers, this infection should be spread like many other crypto-threats. In other words, it should be mainly distributed via spam emails. There are two other methods that cyber criminals can employ. First, they might drop the ransomware infection on selected users’ computers directly after hacking their RDP connections. Second, Termite Ransomware might be distributed as an ordinary application expecting that users will download it themselves. We hope that you will not be one of those users who fall victim to this threat.
If you one day find a window opened on your Desktop, and it contains a small image of a masked man, you must have encountered Termite Ransomware. The threat must be deleted ASAP because it might lock all new files on your computer as well. You should use our manual removal guide (see below) if you have never erased any ransomware infection before.
Delete Termite Ransomware
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.
- Open the tab named Services.
- Locate payment.exe.
- Right-click on it and select Stop Service.
- Close Task Manager.
- Open Windows Explorer.
- Type C:\Windows in the URL bar and press Enter.
- Locate terminate.exe and delete it from your PC.
- Remove all suspicious files downloaded/opened recently.
- Empty Recycle Bin.
In non-techie terms:
Termite Ransomware is a brand new threat that does not do anything new – it simply encrypts files on affected computers. Then, a window with a message is opened on the affected computer’s Desktop. Do not send money to malicious software developers even if you are told that it is the only way to unlock encrypted data. You can restore your files from a backup, or, if you have not backed up a single file in your life, you should try out available free decryption/free data recovery software. Ransomware infections use strong encryption algorithms, so, sadly, we cannot guarantee that free tools will help you.