Usr0 Ransomware

The Usr0 Ransomware is a Trojan that encrypts your PC's files, such as spreadsheets or images, and asks you to contact an e-mail address for instructions on decoding them. Almost all threat actors use similar attacks for demanding money from their victims, potentially under a restrictive time limit. Since this recovery method is uncertain and rewards a con artist behavior, malware analysts advise using other data restoration options while also uninstalling the Usr0 Ransomware with a qualified anti-malware service.

A New Ransoming Scheme Falling over the Former USSR

Thanks to its unique contributions, both positive, and negative, to the illegal threat industry, Russia often is a region of interest to malware experts. Some forms of threatening software even are coded with the intent of avoiding attacking any victims located within that nation, as a preemptive protection against any potential backlash from the Russian law enforcement. However, not all threat authors shy away from targeting Russian residents, as readers can see with the Usr0 Ransomware campaign.

The Usr0 Ransomware's payload scans for files of specific formats, of which malware analysts can confirm JPGs. In addition to '.the Usr0' extension, for identification purposes, the Usr0 Ransomware also encrypts them, using an algorithm for encoding their internal data and blocking the PC's operator from opening them. Another function creates a Notepad file on your desktop, which contains a brief message in Russian text.

The Usr0 Ransomware's message doesn't mention any form of ransom directly but does include an e-mail address to contact, as well as an ID number custom to the machine. Con artists that victims contact through similar methods typically demand cash payments in a difficult to trace currency, such as Bitcoin, before providing a decryption key and service (which they may not deliver).

Keeping the Usr0 Ransomware's Cash Collection at Zero

The Usr0 Ransomware is not the most hostile of file encrypting Trojan campaigns that malware experts are observing this year necessarily. Current versions of the Usr0 Ransomware don't display time limits before the deletion of your decryption key, don't use misleading pop-up images (such as the Anonymous mascot), and don't lock your computer or block your desktop. Despite its limited scope, the Usr0 Ransomware does include legitimate encryption functions, meaning that it can damage your media and information, possibly permanently.

Shadow Copies and other, local backups often are imperfectly reliable means of recovering from threats of this classification. Instead, malware analysts recommend saving backups to areas not as easy for the Usr0 Ransomware to compromise, such as password-protected servers or storage devices left unattached by default. Having data redundancy makes it unnecessary to decrypt your files, making the Usr0 Ransomware's extortion demands ineffective simultaneously.

Remove the Usr0 Ransomware with an up to date anti-malware product, or use such products to block its installers from infecting your PC at all. Although the Usr0 Ransomware confines its campaign to Russia's borders currently, malware analysts see ample evidence of similar threats in distribution on every continent. PC users with any investment in their saved data should take appropriate precautions, and stop this Trojan's campaign before it starts.