Pytehole Ransomware

Pytehole Ransomware is a malicious application first detected by malware analysts working at pcthreat.com on the 25th of April, 2017. Not much time has passed since its first detection, so it is not yet very popular. It does not mean that this cannot change soon. Although its infection rate is not that high at the time of writing, it can still show up on your computer if you are careless. We do not believe that you are reading this article just because you are curious. Most probably, you have discovered Pytehole Ransomware on your computer. It is considered a new ransomware-type infection, but it does not mean that it differs much from older threats. Well, unlike the majority of infections our specialists have categorized as ransomware, it does not open a window with a ransom note after the successful infiltration, and it does not even drop a file on a user’s Desktop; however it surely performs an activity typical for ransomware – it encrypts users’ personal files. Is it possible to get files back? We will provide an answer to this question in the next paragraph.

Although ransomware infections usually enter computers illegally, they do not hide on systems. Instead, they start performing activities right after the successful infiltration. We can assure you that you will discover all files, including images, documents, and media files, located on Desktop encrypted if Pytehole Ransomware enters your system. It uses ESA, which is a secure encryption algorithm, to lock those files, so it might be impossible to get them back. Other file-encrypting threats offer users to purchase a decryption tool; however, Pytehole Ransomware is different. It does not drop a file or open a window with instructions explaining how to get files back, meaning that it might be impossible to unlock them. It is not much you can do in this case. Actually, you have only two options: first, you can try to recover files with a downloaded data recovery tool (try out all reputable tools available on the web) or, second, you can recover data from a backup. If you encounter an updated version of Pytehole Ransomware and you see a message asking to send an exact amount of money for the decryption key, you should know that it is still not recommended spending money on it because nobody knows whether it will be sent to you after you make a payment. To put it differently, you might experience the loss of your money too.

Pytehole Ransomware not only encrypts files it finds stored on the computer. It has also been revealed that Pytehole Ransomware sends information to its C&C server https://traffic.pasmik.net/get.php. This information consists of details about the victim mainly. On top of that, the encryption key used will be sent there right after locking users’ personal files too. This suggests that this malware keeps connecting to the Internet. Luckily, users can stop it easily by eliminating it fully.

Specialists cannot tell much about the distribution of Pytehole Ransomware at present, but, just like older ransomware infections, it should be spread through spam email campaigns, specialists at pcthreat.com say. File-encrypting threats do not end up on users’ computers the second spam emails are opened. Users usually help them to enter their systems by opening attachments they find in these emails they receive. Once Pytehole Ransomware successfully enters the system, it creates a point of execution (PoE) in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce and then starts encrypting files located on Desktop, as you already know. This malicious application will be active on your computer until you go and delete all its components, so you might find your new files encrypted again if you do not take some action soon.

Pytehole Ransomware is not a simple computer infection, so it cannot be deleted through Control Panel. Consequently, you will need to undo the modifications it has made on the computer yourself. If you have never deleted malware before, use our manual removal instructions and perform all the removal steps as indicated. It can be eliminated with an automatic tool as well. Unfortunately, none of these removal methods will remove the .adr extension appended by ransomware from files. To put it differently, your data will stay encrypted after the deletion of Pytehole Ransomware.

How to delete Pytehole Ransomware

1. Tap Win+R.
2. Type regedit.exe and click OK.
3. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce.
4. Find the adr Value with the Value data C:\Users\user\Desktop\pyte-hole.exe (the “pyto-hole.exe” part might be different).
5. Right-click on it and select Delete.
6. Close the Registry Editor.
7. Delete all suspicious recently downloaded/opened files.
8. Empty the Recycle bin.