Cobra Ransomware Removal Guide

Cobra Ransomware is a new malicious infection that has been detected quite recently. It is an extremely dangerous program that can virtually cripple target system. In this description, we will give you a summary of what this program can do, and what the implications of the infection are. Also, you can find the manual removal for Cobra Ransomware at the bottom of our page, but please bear in mind that having a system or a file backup is a lot more important at the moment. Restoring your files might be quite challenging if you do not have healthy copies of your files saved.

According to our research, Cobra Ransomware is a new version of the previously discussed Crysis Ransomware. It means that the program uses the same framework as the infection that came before it. Unfortunately, that does not mean that we can decrypt the affected files right now. Being from the same ransomware family does not mean that all programs in the group have the same decryption key.

Although it is not exactly clear how Cobra Ransomware spreads across the globe, we can assume that it employs the same distribution methods as Crysis Ransomware. So it should mostly be distributed manually through unsafe and corrupted remote desktop clients. Spam email might also be used for the distribution as it is the most common and the cheapest way to spread malware.

With such distribution methods in mind, we should emphasize how important it is for users remain vigilant and aware of all the potential threats. It is always better to prevent Cobra Ransomware and other similar programs from entering your system than actually deal with them when the PC is already infected. So always check whether your remote desktop connection is secure, and do not hesitate to scan the file you received with an email message. Who knows, maybe you will save yourself the trouble of trying to rebuild your data from scratch.

Once Cobra Ransomware enters a target system, the infection runs a full system scan looking for the files it can encrypt. After that, the encryption commences. All the encrypted files get an additional appendix to their filename. The appendix is rather long: .id-<personal ID number>[cranbery@colorendgrace.com.cobra. So, for instance, if you have a flower.jpg file on your computer, after the encryption the filename might look like: flower.jpg.id-B4500913.[cranbery@colorendgrace.com].cobra. What’s more, the encryption affects all file extensions for all programs, so you will not be able to run any of your programs once the encryption is complete.

Cobra Ransomware also displays a ransom note that says you need to contact them immediately. The ransom price supposedly depends on how fast you contact the criminals. Needless to say, you should not contact anyone. Although some users or corporations choose to pay the criminals for the decryption key, we would like to emphasize that such behavior eventually only makes them release even more ransomware.

If you have a system backup, you can transfer healthy copies of your files back into your computer once you remove Cobra Ransomware. To terminate the program, you need to remove all the instances of the info.hta file and random-named .exe files that you might have downloaded accidentally. If you are not sure about the files you need to remove, you can use a powerful antispyware program to do that.

How to Remove Cobra Ransomware

1. Press Win+R and the Run prompt will open.
2. Paste the following directories* one by one into the Open box and click OK:
   %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs
   %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
   %USERPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
   %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
   %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
3. Remove the info.hta and a random named .exe file from the said directories.
4. Open your Downloads folder.
5. Remove all recently downloaded files.

* Please note that some of the directories may not be on your computer, depending on your operating system.