Tear Dr0p Ransomware

Tear Dr0p is a ransomware infection that should encrypt commonly used files, but fails to do so. If you have this threat on your PC, you files have probably not been affected. The Tear Dr0p ransomware infects computer to make fun of their users, because it is programmed to display a game-like puzzle that has to be solved to have the data decrypted. The victim is provided with Latin numbers from 1 to 10 each of which is presented as a button. The task is to guess a 10-press combination which would then supposedly lead to file decryption. Our advice is to ignore the game and remove the Tear Dr0p ransomware from your PC, because the attempts to guess the combination are likely to be fruitless.

When analyzing the Tear Dr0p threat, it has been observed that the samples of the threat do not encrypt files. If they did, they would add the extension .teardr0p to file extensions such as .docx, .doc, .gif, .mp4, .pdf, .txt, .rar, .xls, .xml, to mention just a few. These extensions suggest that the infection would make your MS Office files, photos, videos, and music files inaccessible.

In the pop-up warning displayed by the Tear Dr0p threat, the user is warned not to delete the extension so that its decryption tool can recognize the files that have to be fixed. However, it is barely possible that someone behind the Tear Dr0p ransomware would bother to send you any decryptor.

As the category of the infection suggests, some ransom warning should be demanded by the attacker. Fortunately, the users of the computers infected with Tear Dr0p are not asked to pay any payment. Usually, a ransomware threat display a graphic user interface (GUI) demanding for a specific sum in the Bitcoin currency. There also are many instances when ransomware infections create only .txt files containing instructions for the victim. Moreover, if the sum is not specified, the victim is likely to find a contact email for finding out what amount of money is expected for data recovery.

As regards data decryption, law enforcement agencies strongly advise PC users against paying up to prevent financial loss. Ransomware authors do not tend to provide their victims with decryption keys or tools; in many cases, the data encrypted cannot be restored, so paying the demand money is not going to bring the desired result.

If you ever encounter another ransomware infection, do not let its authors deceive you into paying the ransom. Ideally, you should now take preventative measures so that no similar instances happens to you in the future.
Overall, when browsing the Internet, you should be conscious of potential threats, especially when exposed to questionable content. Suspicious-looking emails, unreliable software sharing websites, and websites full of third party advertisements could be the sources of malware, so be careful not to download malware inadvertently. Additionally, the RDP service and pop-up scam warnings could also be used to spread malware. Having all this in mind, you should not hesitate to implement a reputable security tool so that the PC does not get infected with anything similar to the Tear Dr0p ransomware.

Below you will find our removal guidelines that should help you eliminate the infection, but you should bear in mind that effective protection against malware is possible only when a professional security tool is running on the PC.

How to remove the Tear Dr0p ransomware

1. Search for and delete questionable recently downloaded files from the desktop.
2. Access the Downloads folder and delete questionable files.
3. Delete the file Tear Dr0p.exe located in the %APPDATA% directory.