Halloware Ransomware Removal Guide

Do you know what Halloware Ransomware is?

Halloware Ransomware can infiltrate your computer without your permission and knowledge, and encrypt your personal files in no time. There is no way for you to stop this malicious program even if you were to catch it in the act, which we doubt anyway. Still, our researchers are quite skeptical about this threat and believe that it will be decryptable in the very near future. It seems that this ransomware was not programmed by a professional but more like by a rookie who wants to appear to be experienced. Of course, this malware infection can still cause you enough headache and you may not be able to access and open your encrypted files unless you have a recent backup or the free tool has already released when you are reading these lines. We do believe that you need to take this attack seriously and remove Halloware Ransomware as soon as possible.

User reports and our research indicate that this ransomware is actually for sale on the darknet for $40, which is a rather low price compared to other threats sold there. This may also confirm that you are dealing with a 17 year-old hacker; at least, this is what the author of this malicious program claims. He calls himself Luc1F3R, by the way. You may have opened a spam e-mail lately that looked totally legitimate and you may have also thought that it was very important for you to see the content. You need to be extra careful with such spam mails because they can be very convincing nowadays. It is not that easy for inexperienced users or even for more experienced ones to decide whether it is a spam or an import mail.

This spam may seem to have come from the local authorities or from any famous or well-known companies that would make you feel you are dealing with an authentic mail. Already the sender name and e-mail address may give you a clue that this mail is a "must-see," which is a simply psychological trick of course. The subject line is the second factor that plays a crucial role here since this is why you want to open this mail. The subject is there to raise your curiosity. The matter this spam may refer to can be anything really that would draw your attention. For example, a flight ticket booking, suspicious activities on your bank account, changes with your Internet provider, an unpaid invoice, and so on. These are all subjects that you could hardly resist. Please remember always that once you open this mail, it is quite likely that you will also want to see the attached file, which may pose as an image or a text document, and there will be no way back for you. Your files will be all encrypted by the time you will delete Halloware Ransomware.

Our research shows that this ransomware program uses the AES-256 encryption algorithm to cipher your precious files, including your databases, documents, images, and other media files. This means serious devastation if you think of losing all these files. You can understand the extent of the damage more if you run a search on your system for files starting with "(Lucifer)" the prefix used by this infection. This infection is supposed to change your desktop background with its ransom note and display a pop-up message, too; however, we have found samples that do not do that. In any case, you have to pay $100 according to the ransom note, but when you visit the Tor website mentioned in the note, you will find that you have to pay $150 in Bitcoins. No matter the amount though because we do not recommend that you pay at all. There is a good chance that a free application will soon appear that will decrypt all your files. We suggest that you remove Halloware Ransomware immediately.

Please follow our guide we have prepared for you below this report. We believe that there could be other infections on your system that need to be tackled as well if you want to feel secure using your computer. If you cannot do this manually, you always have a choice to install a reputable malware removal application, such as SpyHunter. Remember to keep your programs up-to-date, too, because cyber villains can exploit outdated software security bugs to attack you or steal sensitive information from your system.

Remove Halloware Ransomware from Windows

  1. Open the File Explorer by tapping Win+E.
  2. Locate and delete the malicious executable you may have saved from a spam mail.
  3. Bin all the suspicious files you may find in your download folders, including default ones (Desktop, Downloads, etc.).
  4. Replace your desktop wallpaper image.
  5. Empty your Recycle Bin.
  6. Restart your system.

In non-techie terms:

Halloware Ransomware is new threat that may come in slightly different forms. Our researchers have found that this ransomware program is sold on the darknet and is somewhat customizable, hence the possibly different variants. These differences may be very simple ones like changing your desktop background with a ransom note image or simply drop a note onto your desktop. Of course, the text of the note might also be different. In any case, this ransomware does not seem to be the work of a genius. We have found information, according to which, it was created by a young Indian guy. He asks for $100 in Bitcoins for the decryption of your encrypted files; however, our researchers say that this malware infection may not even store your decryption key, which means that there is no way for your attacker to decrypt your files. Fortunately, it seems that a free tool is about to surface in the near future that will be able to decrypt your files. So, if you are lucky, you may not have to lose all your personal files in this attack. We advise you to remove Halloware Ransomware from your PC right now. If you want to make sure that your computer is clean and it stays that way, we suggest that you install a trustworthy anti-malware program.