The main goal of ransomware such as HOOP virus is to pressure the user of the infected system into sending a payment to have the data decrypted. Military-grade encryption methods let the attackers believe that the victim would follow their instructions and pay the ransom. To emphasize that the malware encrypts just the first 150 KB of each file, we must describe the details of the whole file alteration process. The ransomware initially encrypts those 150 KBs, making the file inaccessible and not slowing down the entire assault period. This, on the other hand, will also enable specific file types to be restored as specified in this article. The price of the HOOP decryption tool depends on how quickly the victim contacts the attacker. As stated in the ransom note, criminals want you to pay the attacker within the first 72 hours and make an agreement with them (this includes, of course, paying the ransom). They will offer a 50% discount, which means the tool and unique decryption key will cost $490. Alternatively, the price will immediately return to its original price of $980. The criminals certainly want to make sure their money cannot be tracked, which is why they ask for bitcoin as payment. To complete this, the victim must buy Bitcoins that equal a pre-determined sum and then send the Bitcoins to the criminals’ wallets. The perpetrators attempt to persuade the victim by offering the victim test decryption service on a tiny file. The Geek’s Advice team and FBI also recommend that you should not pay the ransom. The following are some of the reasons why it is improper and unnecessary:

Regardless of the amount of money you spend, there are no assurances that you will be able to retrieve your data. The crooks may just dissolve into thin air after collecting the money, never responding again.Each year, attackers that operate the ransomware make millions of US dollars. When you pay these people, you’re supporting this unlawful business’s development. They will continue doing it as long as they can make money from their actions. In addition, the money they gain makes more individuals want to become involved.If you were to pay a ransom, it would most likely be seen as criminal conduct in your nation.HOOP ransom-demanding virus belongs to the family of viruses known as the STOP/DJVU ransomware and is used to launch AZORULT Trojan on infected computers.

Ransomware Attack Damage Explanation

The malicious process winupdate.exe starts the attack by launching a Windows Update fraudulent process, which simulates a notification on the user’s screen asking the user to do a task. In this case, the system slowness is caused by user modifications and upgrades, not by a malicious program. But as the virus carries out another four-character named process, it is simultaneously executing a second, unrelated process that encrypts all data on the system. To ensure the virus doesn’t leave behind any footprints, it also launches a Command Prompt script that cleans up the computer’s Volume Shadow Copy folders. vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet This prevents the victim from using System Restore Points to restore encrypted data (if any were created before the cyber attack). This following step by the virus adds a list of domains to the Windows HOSTS file so that the victim could not visit any of them. This file restricts access to specific websites to just localhost IP addresses to prevent the computer user from accessing such websites. DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error appears in a web browser when the user visits one of these malicious sites. Researchers have observed that the virus fights against websites that provide information on how-to guides and security-related material. In other words, it seems that virus creators aim to keep their victims from getting self-help information online. The ransomware eventually dumps two text files onto the victim’s computer: PersonalID.txt and bowsakkdestx.txt. The victims of the HOOP virus should have in mind is that the STOP/DJVU versions may allow the AZORULT Trojan to get malware into the machine that is already infected. The Remote Access Trojan may be used to conduct different activities on a computer while it’s connected remotely.

Downloading malware to the computer and running itExposing Telegram and Steam login credentialsobtaining access to, viewing, or deleting data on the victim’s computerStealing cryptocurrency-related private keysStealing stored browser passwords, bookmarks, browsing history, and other data.

Our best recommendation is that you remove HOOP ransomware virus infection from your computer as soon as possible. Following the steps below combined with a security application such as INTEGO Antivirus will provide you with optimal protection. Scanning your PC with RESTORO should be done if you want to restore damaged Windows OS files from a virus.

Ransomware Summary

REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE

Methods for the spread of ransomware

Stop/DJVU malware, including HOOP ransomware, spreads mainly via malicious software cracks or torrent downloads of copyrighted software available for free. After reportedly attempting to download these applications for free, victims have claimed to catch the virus.

Adobe Photoshop;Adobe Illustrator;Corel Draw;Cubase;Tools such as KMSPico used to illegally activate Windows.

Cybercriminals know that many computer users are searching for free applications, which means they place a lure on different file-sharing sites that infect people. This is by far the worst thing about obtaining programs illegally: people who get programs in this manner will often disregard the security software’s warnings and continue to open the file regardless of the warning. We urge you always to download software from official sources to prevent infection. If you want a unique and functional version of the application, consider going to the software developer or distributor’s website and paying for a legal license. We can promise you that helping fund software developers’ work is always less expensive than financing crooks. A virus delivered as an email attachment falls under the ransomware category as well. Attackers create files of these formats: DOCX, XLS, PDF, and label them as invoice/pending payment/parcel delivery tracking information. They then send emails that include the documents to many individuals, unaware that the files contain computer code. The target email lists of prospective thieves are often stolen through data breaches on the internet. To help you be aware of fraudulent emails, we highly encourage you to be careful with these:

Urgent notification with content recommendations;It is essential to examine documents like invoices and critical documents immediately to ensure that all the information is correct;He acts as though he came from a well-known organization;Email address spoofing;You have a message from your email box provider marked as spam.

Our team experts encourage you to delete emails that you did not wait for or that seem questionable. If you think anything in your email doesn’t quite seem right, or if you find yourself asking, “why is this email arriving in my inbox?” then delete the email and never even look at its attachments or links contained. They may lead to an infection that can wreak havoc on your computer. The ransomware that may have infected your computer would not have alerted you that there are many fraudulent “STOP/DJVU decryption programs” available, as one example, ZORAB. It means that hackers are going after and attempting to doubly encrypt individuals who are eager to recover their encrypted data. If a simple decryption tool emerges, we can guarantee you that all cybersecurity-related websites will be reporting on it.

Remove HOOP ransomware virus and combat the side effects of the attack

To ensure your computer’s security, we highly suggest that you remove HOOP ransomware virus and take further precautions to avoid future assaults. It is essential to follow the instructions below to boot into Safe Mode with Networking to remove malware securely. We suggest utilizing INTEGO Antivirus for virus eradication, which offers comprehensive real-time protection.  Finally, use the RESTORO program to detect and restore damage to Windows OS files caused by viruses. You should follow these steps after you have completed the virus eradication task:

In the case of a cybercrime occurrence, report it to your local government, which is responsible for addressing these kinds of incidents.Consider creating a data backup to see if you have recently done so. In this case, at least some of your critical data will be restored.Follow the steps provided to undo or fix files that were damaged by versions of STOP/DJVU.While also recommending that you change your passwords, we suggest you do so for those websites where you saved login information in your browser.

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 HOOP 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 HOOP 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 HOOP files

Fix and open large HOOP 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. HOOP 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 HOOP files, follow the given tutorial.

Meanings of decryptor’s messages

The HOOP 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 HOOP 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 HOOP 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.