Cryptowall 3.0 - Two free files wont decrypt! - Shows a 404 error - Should I still pay the ransom?

[Shahzad_3]

Cryptowall 3.0 Attack.

 

[bootcher]

Consider your files lost. Most of the time they will take your money and never be heard from again. Never pay these criminals, just make sure you have good protection and backups!

 

[eatmypie]

That really isn't true at all. These aren't just kids writing code and trolling for fun. These are people making ransomware their business. So they have a reputation to keep, if someone pays them for the key to remove the encryption from their files and they give it to them, then someone else gets infected and that person asks do I really get my key and files back once I pay them and 99% of them time that person will say yes. So just like any other business they need to get a good reputation even if its for something malicious. This won't give you a life time pass for never becoming infected again but just use something like bitdefender which has ransom protection or use D7 crypto prevent once you pay. Both of these won't stop the infection well maybe the bitdefender will in some cases but both will stop the malware from being able to encrypt anything.

 

[firefoxx04]

You should not pay them for moral reasons (it proves to them that these attacks work) but from a selfish standpoint, paying them can get your files back. It is a toss up of whether or not they will give the files back. It has worked before, I have seen it first hand.


That said, technically if one file can be decrypted, they all should because the same encryption key was used to encrypt everything. (unless this is a new variant that uses multiple encryption keys. )

 

[Spectre694]

Like eatmypie said ransomware is run like a business so they do actually almost always let you have your stuff back after paying. On the other hand I agree with bootcher I wouldn't pay them unless they had data I absolutely had to have back. (in that case shame for not having backups of vital data)

 

[Shahzad_3]

The question is, if the demo files are not being decrypted, does that mean that if I may all of my other files wont be decrypted either?