How to remove Charmant Ransomware and decrypt .charmant files

What is Charmant Ransomware

Charmant is a malicious program that falls under the category of ransomware. Malware of such is designed to encrypt access to data and make victims pay money for its decryption. While enciphering access to system-stored files, this ransomware variant also assigns the .charmant extension to highlight the blocked data. For instance, a file like 1.pdf will change to 1.pdf and lose its original icon. Immediately after the encryption is finished, a text note named #RECOVERY#.txt gets created to feature decryption guidelines.

To establish contact with cybercriminals and request the decryption of locked files, victims are instructed to write via e-mail or Jabber client (a secure messaging service). Following successful communication with cybercriminals, victims will most likely be demanded to pay a certain ransom fee to obtain special software and a decryption key. In addition, the message also warns against running any modifications to files or trying to decrypt them using third-party tools because such actions may lead to permanent damage. While this information may be initially designed to scare inexperienced users and eventually pay for decryption, it is actually true. Without the right decryption keys that are stored by cybercriminals, it is rarely possible to decrypt files fully and without damage risks. At the moment of writing this article, no third-party tool is known to be able to decrypt the locked data. In rare cases, generic decryption tools may work only if ransomware contained flaws or did not manage to encrypt the files in the intended way.

Thus, the only two likely options to return your data are either to collaborate with the extortionists or recover the files from an available backup. Backups are copies of data stored on external devices such as USB drives, external hard drives, or SSDs. If none of these recovery alternatives fit you, you can also try using third-party utilities from our guide, however, it is less likely they will be able to help due to the mentioned in the above paragraph. Please note that paying the ransom is always a risky thing as some threat actors fool their victims and do not provide the promised decryption. Thus, using your own backups is always a safer option for file recovery. If you decide to not meet the demands of swindlers and recover the files your own way, it is important to make sure the infection is removed from your system. Even in the case of collaborating with the attackers, the same deletion measure should be conducted as well. Use our guide below to get rid of Charmant Ransomware and safeguard your PC against similar infections in the future.

How Charmant Ransomware infected your computer

Among the most popular infiltration techniques are phishing e-mail letters, unprotected RDP configuration, infected software installers (pirated or cracked), exploit kits, trojans, fake updates/license cracking tools, unreliable ads, backdoors, keyloggers, and other dubious channels. Many of them succeed by deceiving users into downloading and opening some malicious file or link. For example, users may be tricked into downloading some malicious attachments from a fraudulent e-mail letter under the pretext of reading some important information. Such messages usually do not make any sense to users, however, due to often high levels of curiosity, inexperienced users follow the bait and inadvertently infect their system with malware. Please note that other channels capitalize on users’ naiveness and inexperience too. To avoid becoming part of a malware incident, it is important to stay vigilant with suspicious content, download software only from trusted and official resources, and not interact with potentially dubious links. This guide will show how to deal with a ransomware attack that has occurred and protect your system against it in the future.

1. Download Charmant Ransomware Removal Tool
2. Get decryption tool for .charmant files
3. Recover encrypted files with Stellar Data Recovery Professional
4. Restore encrypted files with Windows Previous Versions
5. Restore files with Shadow Explorer
6. How to protect from threats like Charmant Ransomware

Charmant Ransomware files:


#RECOVERY#.txt
{randomname}.exe


Charmant Ransomware registry keys:

no information

How to decrypt and restore .charmant files

Use automated decryptors

Download Kaspersky RakhniDecryptor

Use following tool from Kaspersky called Rakhni Decryptor, that can decrypt .charmant files. Download it here:

Download RakhniDecryptor

There is no purpose to pay the ransom because there is no guarantee you will receive the key, but you will put your bank credentials at risk.

Dr.Web Rescue Pack

Famous antivirus vendor Dr. Web provides free decryption service for the owners of its products: Dr.Web Security Space or Dr.Web Enterprise Security Suite. Other users can ask for help in the decryption of .charmant files by uploading samples to Dr. Web Ransomware Decryption Service. Analyzing files will be performed free of charge and if files are decryptable, all you need to do is purchase a 2-year license of Dr.Web Security Space worth $120 or less. Otherwise, you don’t have to pay.

If you are infected with Charmant Ransomware and removed from your computer you can try to decrypt your files. Antivirus vendors and individuals create free decryptors for some crypto-lockers. To attempt to decrypt them manually you can do the following:

Use Stellar Data Recovery Professional to restore .charmant files

1. Download Stellar Data Recovery Professional.
2. Click Recover Data button.
3. Select type of files you want to restore and click Next button.
4. Choose location where you would like to restore files from and click Scan button.
5. Preview found files, choose ones you will restore and click Recover.

Download Stellar Data Recovery Professional

Using Windows Previous Versions option:

1. Right-click on infected file and choose Properties.
2. Select Previous Versions tab.
3. Choose particular version of the file and click Copy.
4. To restore the selected file and replace the existing one, click on the Restore button.
5. In case there is no items in the list choose alternative method.

Using Shadow Explorer:

1. Download Shadow Explorer program.
2. Run it and you will see screen listing of all the drives and the dates that shadow copy was created.
3. Select the drive and date that you want to restore from.
4. Right-click on a folder name and select Export.
5. In case there are no other dates in the list, choose alternative method.

If you are using Dropbox:

1. Login to the DropBox website and go to the folder that contains encrypted files.
2. Right-click on the encrypted file and select Previous Versions.
3. Select the version of the file you wish to restore and click on the Restore button.

How to protect computer from viruses, like Charmant Ransomware , in future

1. Get special anti-ransomware software

Use ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware

Famous antivirus brand ZoneAlarm by Check Point released a comprehensive tool, that will help you with active anti-ransomware protection, as an additional shield to your current protection. The tool provides Zero-Day protection against ransomware and allows you to recover files. ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware is compatible with all other antiviruses, firewalls, and security software except ZoneAlarm Extreme (already shipped with ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware) or Check Point Endpoint products. The killer features of this application are: automatic file recovery, overwrite protection that instantly and automatically recovers any encrypted files, file protection that detects and blocks even unknown encryptors.

Download ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware

2. Back up your files

As an additional way to save your files, we recommend online backup. Local storage, such as hard drives, SSDs, flash drives, or remote network storage can be instantly infected by the virus once plugged in or connected to. Charmant Ransomware uses some techniques to exploit this. One of the best services and programs for easy automatic online backup is iDrive. It has the most profitable terms and a simple interface. You can read more about iDrive cloud backup and storage here.

3. Do not open spam e-mails and protect your mailbox

Malicious attachments to spam or phishing e-mails are the most popular method of ransomware distribution. Using spam filters and creating anti-spam rules is good practice. One of the world leaders in anti-spam protection is MailWasher Pro. It works with various desktop applications and provides a very high level of anti-spam protection.

Download MailWasher Pro