Agho Ransomware

When did Agho Ransomware invade your Windows operating system? How did it do it? How long did it keep silent before it revealed itself to you? These are the questions that you might have no answers to, and if you do not, it is highly likely that your operating system is not protected efficiently and that you yourself are not taking good care of it. Unfortunately, when it comes down to malware and virtual security, trusted anti-malware software is irreplaceable. If you think that you will not face malware soon after you remove Agho Ransomware, think again. In fact, other threats could have invaded your system already, and you just do not know about it yet. Not all threats are as noticeable as the ransomware, and many of them rely on invisibility so that they could steal information, leak files, and use your system’s resources for various malicious tasks. So, while we have created this article to show you how to delete ransomware, we also show how to secure the system.

First things first. Agho Ransomware is a new variant of STOP Ransomware, and you might not know what that means. Basically, years ago, one malicious threat was built. It was proven to be lucrative, and so instead of building new infections, cybercriminals decided to create and distribute its clones, which is mainly done with the help of spam emails and bundled downloaders. That is the quickest and easiest way to create malware and make money off it. The STOP Ransomware family is very extensive, and among hundreds of unique variants we have Sglh Ransomware, Lisp Ransomware, Mmpa Ransomware, and, of course, Agho Ransomware. This infection is known by this name because it adds “.agho” to the files it corrupts. Unfortunately, it mainly corrupts personal files, and so, for example, your picture file named “birthday.jpg” should be renamed to “birthday.jpg.agho” after encryption. Once files are encrypted, they cannot be read due to the changes made to the data. What are you supposed to do with that? Ideally, you can decrypt files, but the free STOP Decryptor did not guarantee full decryption at the time of research. That said, cybercriminals claimed they could decrypt all files.

A file named “_readme.txt” is dropped by Agho Ransomware once all intended files are encrypted. The only purpose of this text file is to introduce a message, which declares that victims can decrypt files only if they purchase a decryptor. It is suggested that the full price for this tool is $980, but if the ransom is paid within three days, victims only need to pay half of that, $490. If you think that you are offered a good deal, cybercriminals have succeeded at duping you. If you have already followed their instruction to email helpmanager@mail.ch and restoremanager@airmail.cc – which you have to do to get payment-related information – and you also have paid the ransom, you have been scammed. The attackers behind Agho Ransomware have no intention of providing anyone with a decryptor, because that is not beneficial to them. They build ransomware just to trick people into paying for a decryptor, and, unfortunately, victims cannot force cybercriminals to give them what was promised. This is why we suggest that you ignore the ransom note and quickly remove the infection.

If you cannot decrypt files using the free STOP Decryptor, we hope that you can replace them, but that can be done only if copies of the corrupted files exist, and if they exist outside the infected computer. If you have copies and if they are stored someplace safe, you need to delete Agho Ransomware first. Afterward, you will be able to make any replacements that you want. If you cannot decrypt or replace files, you might have to come to terms with the fact that cybercriminals destroyed your files. In the future, make sure that copies of all important files are stored online or on external drives, and also do not forget to secure your system with the help of trusted anti-malware software. Of course, we recommend that you install it even if you can decrypt or replace all files. Remember that full-time protection for your system is absolutely necessary. Note that if you install anti-malware software, it will remove Agho Ransomware automatically, and so you will have one less problem to deal with.

Agho Ransomware Removal

1. Open the File Explorer window by tapping Windows and E keys at the same time.
2. Enter %HOMEDRIVE% into the field at the top, and you will access the directory.
3. If you can find the _readme.txt file and the SystemID folder, Delete them.
4. Enter %LOCALAPPDATA% into the field at the top of File Explorer.
5. If you can find a {random name} folder and can confirm that the files inside belong to ransomware, Delete it.
6. Close the File Explorer window and then Empty Recycle Bin.
7. Implement a trusted malware scanner to help you examine the system for malware leftovers.