Santa Encryptor Ransomware

Cyber criminals do not stop developing new malicious applications during the festive season. Santa Encryptor Ransomware is their newest creation. It contains an image of Santa Claus in the top-left corner, but it is still a harmful malicious application. According to researchers at pcthreat.com, this infection is still in development because, at the time of research, it did not encrypt any files. We are sure it is only a question of time when malicious software developers finish it and start actively spreading it with the intention of earning an illegal profit before Christmas. It is unclear whether it will become a prevalent infection or not, but we are sure for one thing – you should take all possible measures to prevent it from showing up on your system. Ransomware infections are malicious applications that are not so easy to prevent from entering the system. This threat might show up on your computer after a single click on some kind of malicious link, so you should be very cautious. If you are reading this article not out of curiosity but because you have already discovered this infection on your system, you should continue reading this article. You will first find out more about it and then we will tell you more about its removal.

Ransomware infections are considered harmful malware because their entrance usually results in the loss of files and money. No doubt Santa Encryptor Ransomware has been developed to obtain money from users as well. It did not encrypt any files at the time of writing, but our malware researchers still managed to find some more information about it by analyzing its source code. It has turned out that the ransomware infection tries to encrypt files using the XOR cipher. If it is ever fixed and you encounter this threat, no doubt you will find your documents, pictures, music, and other valuable files with .txt, .doc, .docx, .log, .msg, .odt, and .pages extensions encrypted. As we have already told you above, cyber criminals develop ransomware infections because they want users’ money, so we are sure Santa Encryptor Ransomware will ask money from you either if you ever encounter its fully working version. It wants 150 USD in Bitcoin from users, but, of course, the size of the ransom might change. You should never send money to cyber crooks even if there is no other way to decrypt those encrypted files because you cannot know whether you could decrypt them after you pay the money demanded. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do if you have encountered the working version of Santa Encryptor Ransomware, found your files locked, and do not want to send money to crooks behind this infection because these affected files can only be restored for free from a backup. There is no other way to do this if you have never backed up your data.

Santa Encryptor Ransomware is not one of those prevalent threats, so it is not easy to talk about its distribution as well. Of course, there is no doubt that it infiltrates users’ PCs without their knowledge. Our researchers say that users often allow malicious software to enter their computers themselves without realizing that too. For example, they might find malware on their computers after opening attachments from received malicious emails. Also, they might download threats from the web. This usually happens for those users who download tons of freeware from file-sharing websites. It is not always a piece of cake to ensure the system’s maximum protection, but it is definitely not something users cannot do. You will be protected from all kinds of threats spreading through the web these days if you simply enable security software on your computer. As long as it is there, your PC will be protected against malware.

The removal of Santa Encryptor Ransomware should not be complicated because you could delete it by removing the malicious file launched. Unfortunately, your files will stay encrypted even if you erase this threat from your PC. Keep in mind that you must erase this threat if your files are fine as well. The manual removal guide you can find below this article will help you to delete this malicious application, but you should still perform a system a system scan with an automated malware remover as well because you cannot leave any components of this infection active on your computer.

How to delete Santa Encryptor Ransomware

1. Click X in the top-right corner of the opened window.
2. Open Explorer (tap Win+E).
3. Find the malicious file you have opened (check %USERPROFILE%\Desktop and %USERPROFILE%\Downloads first).
4. Delete it.
5. Empty Trash.