Plague17 Ransomware

Plague17 Ransomware is a malicious computer infection that will take over your system unexpectedly. It is possible to avoid getting infection with this malware, but users often fail to notice potential malware infection signs. Although it is not complicated to remove Plague17 Ransomware from your computer, it might be quite challenging to restore the files that were encrypted by this program. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t panic because this is exactly what these crooks need: If you panic, you are more likely to give your money away to the people who created this ransomware.

Seeing how the ransom note and the interface of this program is entirely in Russian, it is safe to assume that Plague17 Ransomware is created to target users in the Russian-speaking countries. On the other hand, malware seldom mind national borders. Therefore, it is possible to get infected with Plague17 Ransomware even if you do not reside in the Russian federation. It all depends on whether you get in the way of the ransomware distribution network.

It is very likely that Plague17 Ransomware and other ransomware infections that target a specific region spread through individual and spear phishing attacks. It would mean that they target particular systems and do not send out the ransomware installer files at random. However, even so, it is still possible to avoid getting infected with this program, as long as you take note of what kind of emails you receive.

If you get a message from unknown sender, and this message comes with an attachment, you should automatically look at this message carefully. What’s more, if the message comes with an urgent tone and it tells you to open the attached document immediately, you might as well delete it at once. On the other hand, if you think that the received file could be important, you can always scan it with a security tool before opening it. If the file is malicious, the security tool of your choice will notify you about it, and you will definitely be able to avoid getting infected with Plague17 Ransomware.

But what if that doesn’t work and Plague17 Ransomware still enters your system? Well, then you go through the usual steps of a ransomware infection. This program scans the infected system and locates all the files it can encrypt. Once the encryption is complete, the affected files receive the “.PLAGUE17-[Unique ID]” extension. Every single affected system will have a unique ID ascribed, so the actual extension will differ from system to system.

Along with the encryption, the program also drops the ransom note in every single folder that contains encrypted files. The ransom note is entirely in Russian, and it says the following (translated):

Attention!
If you read this message, it means your computer has been attacked by a dangerous virus.
All your information (documents, databases, backups and other files) on this computer were encrypted.
<…>
Email us at plague17@riseup.net to find out how to get the decoder.
If we do not answer within 3 hours, please send the email again.

Needless to say, you should not contact these crooks. Although there is no public decryption tool available at the moment, there might be other file recovery options, so you should never consider dealing with the cybercriminals. Not to mention that no one would guarantee that they would issue the decryption tool in the first place. Their server might go down even before you contact them, and they could ask for a cosmic price for the decryption. Either way, paying the criminals is never an answer.

Luckily, ransomware removal is seldom too complicated. Plague17 Ransomware doesn’t drop any additional files, so you just need to remove the files that launched the infection. After you do that, you can delete the encrypted files and transfer healthy copies back into your computer, provided you have a file backup ready. If you do not have one, please address a professional for various file recovery options.

Finally, do not hesitate to invest in a powerful security tool that would help you protect your PC from various intruders. Yet, do not leave everything to the security program. Please be careful about the files you download because you can never know what other dangerous infections might hide there.

How to Remove Plague17 Ransomware

1. Delete unfamiliar files from Desktop.
2. Remove all the ransom notes.
3. Go to the Downloads folder.
4. Delete the most recent files from the folder.
5. Press Win+R and type %TEMP%. Click OK.
6. Remove the most recent files from the directory.
7. Scan your system with SpyHunter.