Go to War with the Odin Virus!

The first reports regarding the Odin File Virus started appearing on 26 September, and early signs point to the ransomware affecting mostly U.S. users. Unfortunately, there is very little doubt that the virus is going to spread like a wildfire in an old forest, if not already.

Odin could infect your computer in many diverse ways. For example, sometimes Trojans are used for finding a vulnerability in the operating system or another additionally installed program of your PC. After detecting its weakness, it uses it to sneak the Ransomware in. Another possible distribution tool is the so-called malvertising. This is the process of generating fake pop-ups and links, which lead to locations full of malware or directly download malware onto your PC. In this case, once you open the malicious ad, the virus gets injected into your system. Ransomware could also come from infected web pages that you come across, malicious torrents, infected emails.

Odin typically functions in the following way:

Everything begins with the assembling of a list of all the files that you regularly use. This list is the guideline for the encryption process – it shows the virus the locations and the names of the files. The encrypting then starts and all the data from the list gets locked up. In some very rare cases, some infected users might see a strange process taking place in their Task Manager, which will usually be responsible for consuming the largest amount of system resources. You can freeze the infection process by disconnecting your computer from all networks and to turning it off immediately. Then you should bring your computer to a professional for help  and make sure not to switch your machine back on without a specialist. However, most infections go unnoticed and finish with the generation of a special message on your screen, which informs you about the demanded ransom and warns you about the future of your system and your files.

What is the best solution? So far, there’s no tool or strategy that will promise the full recovery of your files. We cannot tell you what to do in your case, but we can explain the possible solutions here and you can decide for yourself.

1. You may pay the ransom. Just bear in mind that this is not very clever, because it doesn’t guarantee that the hackers will decrypt your data, it may just motivate them to encrypt somebody else’s files. However there are no guarantees of recovering your files are given.
2. You can bring your computer to a professional and let them fix the problem.

Call 510.522.4921 for more information! No appointment needed.