Remove Connect Ransomware And Restore Encrypted Files

Proper Guide To Delete Connect Ransomware

Connect Ransomware is a highly dangerous computer virus which silently infiltrates the Windows PCs, encrypts users’ crucial files and then asks them to pay the attackers an amount of ransom in exchange for the decryption tool. Belonging to the family of Bondy ransowmare, it can lock almost all types of data including videos, music, pictures, documents, presentations etc. and make them completely inaccessible or unusable. After that, opening those data is not possible unless a decryption tool is used that is allegedly kept on attackers’ server. However, to get that tool, victims need to pay some amount of money to the hackers.

Depth Analysis of Connect Ransomware:

Connect Ransomware uses a very powerful RSA encryption algorithm to encrypt the targeted files and also renames them by adding “.Connect” extension with each of them as suffix. Due to this odd extension, the compromised files can easily be identified. Once the encryption process is completed, this hazardous crypto-virus displays a ransom note named “HELP_DECRYPT_YOUR_FILES.txt” and informs victims regarding the unpleasant situation.

It is also mentioned in the note that in order to regain access to the infected files, the affected people need to purchase the decryption software from the attackers. The price of the Connect Ransomware decryptor is $500 that has to be paid in BitCoins cryptocurrecny and has to transfer in the provided BTC wallet address. Hackers promise that once the payment is made, they will send the required tool.

Should You Pay The Ransom?

You certainly don’t want to lose your important files and documents locked by this hazardous threat but still, you should not consider making any sort of payment to the attackers. Keep in mind that the only motive of such criminals is to extort illicit revenues from the victimized users. You have absolutely no guarantee that they will deliver the functional decryptor even after taking the extortion. It has been seen that crooks often disappear soon after the ransom payment or provide bogus software to the victims in the name of decryption tool.

What Should The Affected Users Do?

Here the first thing any victimized person should do is to perform Connect Ransomware removal from the computer immediately. As long as this notorious threat stays inside the device, it keeps compromising other important data. For file-recovery, they should use alternative methods such as Volume Shadow Copies. Many crypto-viruses are capable of deleting the Volume Shadows (temporary backup made by OS itself) of the infected files that makes even more difficult to retrieve those data. So, in such case you should use recently made backup or in its absence, you can try an effective file-recovery application.

Quick Glance

Name: Connect Ransomware

Type: Ransomware, Crypto-virus, File-encrypting malware

Short Description: Dangerous malware which encrypts users’ essential data and then asks them to pay the attackers a sum of ransom to get the decryption software/key.

Extension:  “.connect”

Ransom Demanding Notes: “HELP_DECRYPT_YOUR_FILES.txt”

Ransom Amount: $500 in Bitcoins

BTC Wallet Address: 3GDa7CcSjsW7Q29b16NiZ6DKxWauhJmKKq

Attackers’ contact: [email protected]

Symptoms: Locked data become inaccessible and useless stored inside the infected PCs, previous functional data now have different extension, A ransom demanding message is left on each affected folder. Users are asked to pay an amount of ransom to unlock their encoded data and files.

Distribution methods: Spam emails, peer to peer network sharing, unofficial activation and updating tools.

Damage: All files are encrypted and cannot be accessed without paying ransom, Additional password stealing Trojans and malware infections can be installed along with ransomware infections and other malware.

Removal: To remove this virus from the system, we advise you to use a reliable anti-malware tool. Once malware gets removed, you can recover your files by using existing backup or data-recovery software.

Penetration of Connect Ransomware:

At most of the times, ransomware developers spread their dangerous viruses with the help of spam emails. These mails often include vicious attachments in forms of Microsoft Office, PDF documents, archive files like RAR, ZIP, JavaScript files, executable files (like .exe).  As soon as recipients open or run the malicious file, it triggers the malware installation process.

However, it can be avoided by being very cautious while receiving emails coming from unknown senders. These mails are often represented as ‘crucial’ or ‘important’ or pretend to be from some popular companies. It is necessary to first check the legitimacy of the mails and only if you find nothing wrong, open them. But at the moment, you must remove Connect Ransomware from the computer as soon as possible.

Text Presented In The Ransom Note:

Oops All Of your important files were encrypted Like document pictures videos etc..

Don’t worry, you can return all your files!

All your files, documents, photos, databases and other important files are encrypted by a strong encryption.

How to recover files?

RSA is a asymmetric cryptographic algorithm, you need one key for encryption and one key for decryption so you need private key to recover your files. It’s not possible to recover your files without private key.

The only method of recovering files is to purchase an unique private key.Only we can give you this key and only we can recover your files.

What guarantees you have?

As evidence, you can send us 1 file to decrypt by email We will send you a recovery file  Prove that we can decrypt your file

Please You must follow these steps carefully to decrypt your files:

Send $500 worth of bitcoin to wallet: 3GDa7CcSjsW7Q29b16NiZ6DKxWauhJmKKq

after payment,we will send you Decryptor software

contact email: [email protected]

Your personal ID: –

Antimalware Details And User Guide

Click Here For Windows

Click Here For Mac

Step 1: Remove Connect Ransomware through “Safe Mode with Networking”

Step 2: Delete Connect Ransomware using “System Restore”

Step 1: Remove Connect Ransomware through “Safe Mode with Networking”

For Windows XP and Windows 7 users: Boot the PC in “Safe Mode”. Click on “Start” option and continuously press on F8 during the start process until the “Windows Advanced Option” menu appears on the screen. Choose “Safe Mode with Networking” from the list.

Now, a windows homescreen appears on the desktop and work-station is now working on “Safe mode with networking”.

For Windows 8 Users: Go to the “Start Screen”. In the search results select settings, type “Advanced”. In the “General PC Settings” option, choose “Advanced startup” option. Again, click on the “Restart Now” option. The work-station boots to “Advanced Startup Option Menu”. Press on “Troubleshoot” and then “Advanced options” button.  In the “Advanced Option Screen”, press on “Startup Settings”. Again, click on “Restart” button. The work-station will now restart in to the “Startup Setting” screen. Next is to press F5 to boot in Safe Mode in Networking.

For Windows 10 Users: Press on Windows logo and on the “Power” icon. In the newly opened menu, choose “Restart” while continuously holding “Shift” button on the keyboard. In the new open “Choose an option” window, click on “Troubleshoot” and then on the “Advanced Options”. Select “Startup Settings” and press on “Restart”. In the next window, click on “F5” button on the key-board.

Step 2: Delete Connect Ransomware using “System Restore”

Log-in to the account infected with Connect Ransomware. Open the browser and download a legitimate anti-malware tool. Do a full System scanning. Remove all the malicious detected entries.

In case if you cannot start the PC in “Safe Mode with Networking”, Try using “System Restore”

• During the “Startup”, continuously press on F8 key until the “Advanced Option” menu appears. From the list, choose “Safe Mode with Command Prompt” and then press “Enter”

• In the new opened command prompt, enter “cd restore” and then press “Enter”.

• Type: rstrui.exe and Press “ENTER”

• Click “Next” on the new windows

• Choose any of the “Restore Points” and click on “Next”. (This step will restore the work-station to its earlier time and date prior to Connect Ransomware infiltration in the PC.

• In the newly opened windows, press on “Yes”.

Once your PC gets restored to its previous date and time, download the recommended anti-malware tool and perform a deep scanning in order to remove Connect Ransomware files if they left in the work-station.

In order to restore the each (separate) file by this ransomware, use “Windows Previous Version” feature. This method is effective when “System Restore Function” is enabled in the work-station.

Important Note: Some variants of Connect Ransomware delete the “Shadow Volume Copies” as well hence this feature may not work all the time and is applicable for selective computers only.

How to Restore Individual Encrypted File:

In order to restore a single file, right click on it and go to “Properties”. Select “Previous Version” tab. Select a “Restore Point” and click on “Restore” option.

In order to access the files encrypted by Connect Ransomware, you can also try using “Shadow Explorer”. In order to get more information on this application, press here.

Important: Data Encryption Ransomware are highly dangerous and it is always better that you take precautions to avoid its attack on your work-station. It is advised to use a powerful anti-malware tool in order to get protection in real-time. With this help of “SpyHunter”, “group policy objects” are implanted in the registries in order to block harmful infections like Connect Ransomware.

Also, In Windows 10, you get a very unique feature called “Fall Creators Update” that offer “Controlled Folder Access” feature in order to block any kind of encryption to the files. With the help of this feature, any files stored in the locations such as “Documents”, “Pictures”, “Music”, “Videos”, “Favorites” and “Desktop” folders are safe by default.

It is very important that you install this “Windows 10 Fall Creators Update” in your PC to protect your important files and data from ransomware encryption. The more information on how to get this update and add an additional protection form rnasomware attack has been discussed here.

How to Recover the Files Encrypted by Connect Ransomware?

Till now, you would have understood that what had happed to your personal files that got encrypted and how you can remove the scripts and payloads associated with Connect Ransomware in order to protect your personal files that has not been damaged or encrypted until now. In order to retrieve the locked files, the depth information related to “System Restore” and “Shadow Volume Copies” has already been discussed earlier. However, in case if you are still unable to access the encrypted files then you can try using a data recovery tool.

Use of Data Recovery Tool

This step is for all those victims who have already tries all the above mentioned process but didn’t find any solution. Also it is important that you are able to access the PC and can install any software. The data recovery tool works on the basis of System scanning and recovery algorithm. It searches the System partitions in order to locate the original files which were deleted, corrupted or damaged by the malware. Remember that you must not re-install the Windows OS otherwise the “previous” copies will get deleted permanently. You have to clean the work-station at first and remove Connect Ransomware infection. Leave the locked files as it is and follow the steps mentioned below.

Step1: Download the software in the work-station by clicking on the “Download” button below.

Step2: Execute the installer by clicking on downloaded files.

Step3: A license agreement page appears on the screen. Click on “Accept” to agree with its terms and use. Follow the on-screen instruction as mentioned and click on “Finish” button.

Step4: Once the installation gets completed, the program gets executed automatically. In the newly opened interface, select the file types that you want to recover and click on “Next”.

Step5: You can select the “Drives” on which you want the software to run and execute the recovery process. Next is to click on the “Scan” button.

Step6: Based on drive you select for scanning, the restore process begins. The whole process may take time depending on the volume of the selected drive and number of files. Once the process gets completed, a data explorer appears on the screen with preview of that data that is to be recovered. Select the files that you want to restore.

Step7. Next is to locate the location where you want to saver the recovered files.