The ransom note (the _readme.txt file) holds a message that describes what happened to personal files and offer a solution to current situation. The attackers admit that the malicious program has encrypted all files, including photos, videos, music and video files as well as other formats. The note suggests that files were modified using “the strongest” encryption and that the only way to restore them is to purchase EKVF decryption tool from them. In other words, the attackers take your files hostage and demand paying a ransom. EKVF ransomware virus developers also encourage the victim to test the decryption tool first by sending one encrypted file to them. They warn not to send large file as they fear the information stored in it might be the most important for the victim and prevent one from paying the whole ransom at all. However, cybersecurity experts strictly advise against ransom payments due to variety of reasons, some of them listed below.

Paying the ransom doesn’t guarantee data decryption. The criminals might try to extort you more after receiving the first payment.The decryption tool provided by the criminals might be faulty and not decrypt all of your files.Paying the ransom means supporting the criminals who already collect millions in ransoms each year.Ransom payments are illegal in some countries.

The ransomware silently drops password-stealing Trojan on the system

EKVF ransomware tends to silently install a password-stealing Trojan known as AZORULT on the compromised system. Surely, the attackers don’t mention it in the ransom note. This malicious program is known for its versatile functionalities that include stealing mail client passwords (Outlook, Thunderbird) as well as FTP client passwords (Filezilla, WINSCP), IM clients, cryptocurrency client files, browser cookies, Steam and Telegram data, Skype session IDs, taking desktop screenshots and more. The virus ensures that collected data gets sent to criminals Command&Control server along with infected host’s IP address. Access to such sensitive information allows the attacker reach more information about the user, target it using various scams and phishing schemes, send malware via malspam and perform other illegal activities – it all depends on the attacker’s creativity. For this reason, it is essential for you to remove EKVF ransomware virus along with AZORULT as soon as possible and make your computer secure again. We recommend using professional malware removal program for this task. In addition, we suggest downloading and running system scan with RESTORO to repair virus damage on Windows OS files.

Threat Summary

Ransomware distribution tricks: how to avoid getting infected

EKVF ransomware distribution relies on a technique that’s been used for a while by STOP/DJVU group. Viruses from this malware family tend to hide in illegal torrent downloads, mostly various software or game cracks. Many victims reported downloading it via malicious Adobe Photoshop, game or video editing software torrents. Others informed about malicious KMSPico versions spreading this crypto-virus. That said, it is clear that threat actors are creating fake torrents and uploading them to various file sharing websites. Once the victim opens the malicious file posing as a crack or keygen, a script in it connects to an external resource, downloads and runs the ransomware on the system. Such ransomware (and malware in general) distribution technique is successful not only because of victim’s desire to install a premium software version for free, but also because of one’s courage to ignore security software’s warnings not to open the file. The reason is that users have a tendency to ignore antivirus’ warnings when it comes to software cracks, because they believe these alerts are simply false alarms. Unfortunately, cracks are often full of malicious additions, such as spyware or silent malware (cryptocurrency miners, Trojans, RATs and similar). Other popular and well-known malware distribution method is malicious email spam. Nowadays, criminals get really creative when it comes to creating a convincing email message for the victim. During COVID-19 pandemic, criminals have started sending fake parcel deliver email, pretending to be someone from DPD, DHL, UPS or other reputable companies. Therefore, you should be extremely careful and avoid opening such email, especially if you didn’t order anything online. Other malicious spam campaigns suggest opening an attached document related to missing/pending payment, or ask to review attached invoice. Unfortunately, even if the document looks like a simple document (Word, PDF or another format), it can still contain a malicious script that downloads the malicious payload. In fact, cybercriminals improve every day and find new ways to inject malware even in safe-looking file formats. Final but no less popular malware distribution technique is maliciously modifying software update installer and advertising it via malicious ads online. Such ads can pop-up while visiting untrustworthy websites, typically those providing adult-only content, gambling, casino or copyright-protected content. These websites tend to serve ads from not-so-trustworthy ad networks that provide high cost-per-click payments for the publisher. You can see an example of such deceptive ad below. These typically push Flash Player or Java installation suggestions.

Remove EKVF ransomware and recover your files

The guide provided below explains how to remove EKVF ransomware virus safely and decrypt or repair (part) of your files. Furthermore, our experts suggest scanning with RESTORO to repair virus damage on Windows OS files. It should also reset maliciously modified Windows HOSTS back to default. After completing EKVF virus removal, please take actions to protect your privacy and security instantly. We strongly recommend you to change passwords for your email accounts, social media accounts as well as for accounts in every website that you had saved in your browser (you can check websites with saved passwords via your browser’s settings). Finally, do not forget to report Internet crime incident (you can find directions below). OUR GEEKS RECOMMEND Our team recommends a two-step rescue plan to remove ransomware and other remaining malware from your computer, plus repair caused virus damage to the system: GeeksAdvice.com editors select recommended products based on their effectiveness. We may earn a commission from affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. Learn more. Get INTEGO ANTIVIRUS for Windows to remove ransomware, Trojans, adware and other spyware and malware variants and protect your PC and network drives 24/7. This VB100-certified security software uses state-of-art technology to provide protection against ransomware, Zero-Day attacks and advanced threats, Intego Web Shield blocks dangerous websites, phishing attacks, malicious downloads and installation of potentially unwanted programs. Use INTEGO Antivirus to remove detected threats from your computer. Read full review here. RESTORO provides a free scan that helps to identify hardware, security and stability issues and presents a comprehensive report which can help you to locate and fix detected issues manually. It is a great PC repair software to use after you remove malware with professional antivirus. The full version of software will fix detected issues and repair virus damage caused to your Windows OS files automatically. RESTORO uses AVIRA scanning engine to detect existing spyware and malware. If any are found, the software will eliminate them. Read full review here.

Method 1. Enter Safe Mode with Networking

Before you try to remove EKVF ransomware virus virus, you must start your computer in Safe Mode with Networking. Below, we provide the easiest ways to boot PC in the said mode, but you can find additional ones in this in-depth tutorial on our website – How to Start Windows in Safe Mode. Also, if you prefer a video version of the tutorial, check our guide How to Start Windows in Safe Mode on Youtube. Instructions for Windows XP/Vista/7 users Instructions for Windows 8/8.1/10/11 users Now, you can search for and remove EKVF ransomware virus files. It is very hard to identify files and registry keys that belong to the ransomware virus, Besides, malware creators tend to rename and change them repeatedly. Therefore, the easiest way to uninstall such type of a computer virus is to use a reliable security program such as INTEGO Antivirus. For virus damage repair, consider using RESTORO.

Method 2. Use System Restore

In order to use System Restore, you must have a system restore point, created either manually or automatically. Instructions for Windows XP/Vista/7 users Instructions for Windows 8/8.1/10/11 users After restoring the system, we recommend scanning the system with antivirus or anti-malware software. In most cases, there won’t be any malware remains, but it never hurts to double-check. In addition, we highly recommend checking ransomware prevention guidelines provided by our experts in order to protect your PC against similar viruses in the future.

Alternative software recommendations

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Removing spyware and malware is one step towards cybersecurity. To protect yourself against ever-evolving threats, we strongly recommend purchasing a Premium version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, which provides security based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Includes ransomware protection. See pricing options and protect yourself now.

System Mechanic Ultimate Defense If you’re looking for an all-in-one system maintenance suite that has 7 core components providing powerful real-time protection, on-demand malware removal, system optimization, data recovery, password manager, online privacy protection and secure driver wiping technology. Therefore, due to its wide-range of capabilities, System Mechanic Ultimate Defense deserves Geek’s Advice approval. Get it now for 50% off. You may also be interested in its full review.

Disclaimer. This site includes affiliate links. We may earn a small commission by recommending certain products, at no additional cost for you. We only choose quality software and services to recommend.

Decrypt EKVF files

Fix and open large EKVF files easily:

It is reported that STOP/DJVU ransomware versions encrypt only the beginning 150 KB of each file to ensure that the virus manages to affect all files on the system. In some cases, the malicious program might skip some files at all. That said, we recommend testing this method on several big (>1GB) files first.

STOP/DJVU decryption tool usage guide

STOP/DJVU ransomware versions are grouped into old and new variants. EKVF ransomware virus is considered the new STOP/DJVU variant, just like BPTO, ISWR, ISZA, BPSM, ZOUU, MBTF, ZNSM (find full list here). This means full data decryption is now possible only if you have been affected by offline encryption key. To decrypt your files, you will have to download Emsisoft Decryptor for STOP DJVU, a tool created and maintained by a genius security researcher Michael Gillespie. Note! Please do not spam the security researcher with questions whether he can recover your files encrypted with online key - it is not possible. In order to test the tool and see if it can decrypt EKVF files, follow the given tutorial.

Meanings of decryptor’s messages

The EKVF decryption tool might display several different messages after failed attempt to restore your files. You might receive one of the following messages: Error: Unable to decrypt file with ID: [example ID] This message typically means that there is no corresponding decryption key in the decryptor’s database. No key for New Variant online ID: [example ID]Notice: this ID appears to be an online ID, decryption is impossible This message informs that your files were encrypted with online key, meaning no one else has the same encryption/decryption key pair, therefore data recovery without paying the criminals is impossible. Result: No key for new variant offline ID: [example ID]This ID appears to be an offline ID. Decryption may be possible in the future. If you were informed that an offline key was used, but files could not be restored, it means that the offline decryption key isn’t available yet. However, receiving this message is extremely good news, meaning that it might be possible to restore your EKVF extension files in the future. It can take a few months until the decryption key gets found and uploaded to the decryptor. We recommend you to follow updates regarding the decryptable DJVU versions here. We strongly recommend backing up your encrypted data and waiting.

Victims of EKVF ransomware virus should report the Internet crime incident to the official government fraud and scam website according to their country:

In the United States, go to the On Guard Online website.In Australia, go to the SCAMwatch website.In Germany, go to the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik website.In Ireland, go to the An Garda Síochána website.In New Zealand, go to the Consumer Affairs Scams website.In the United Kingdom, go to the Action Fraud website.In Canada, go to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.In India, go to Indian National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.In France, go to the Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information.

If you can’t find an authority corresponding to your location on this list, we recommend using any search engine to look up “[your country name] report cyber crime”. This should lead you to the right authority website. We also recommend staying away from third-party crime report services that are often paid. It costs nothing to report Internet crime to official authorities. Another recommendation is to contact your country’s or region’s federal police or communications authority.