How to remove Hhee Ransomware and decrypt .hhee files

What is Hhee Ransomware

Hhee Ransomware is a recent virus developed by the STOP/Djvu ransomware family. This group of developers has developed hundreds of ransomware infections designed to render personal data inaccessible and blackmail victims into paying the ransom. Hhee is not an exception as well. This is type of malware that encrypts the files on a victim’s computer and demands a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption key to unlock them. It is also known as DJVU ransomware, as, first versions encrypted files with a .djvu extension. During encryption, it renames files with the .hhee so that a sample like 1.pdf will be changed to 1.pdf.hhee and reset its original icon. Immediately after this, the virus creates a text note called _readme.txt (example in the text box below), which contains file-decryption instructions. Currently, there are only few methods to decrypt data encrypted by Hhee Ransomware and chances are quite low. We provide all information in this tutorial.

As said in the instructions, victims have only one feasible way of returning their data – by purchasing a special decryption tool along with a key. The original price is 980$, however, cybercriminals stimulate victims to make a faster decision by offering a limited 50% discount (within 72 hours). To establish further negotiations on returning the data, victims are guided to contact swindlers via one of the e-mails attached to the note. We now have to warn you that paying the ransom is not a 100% guaranteed solution. Yes, cybercriminals are best capable of decrypting your files, however, nobody can give guarantees that they will keep their promise eventually. Although ransomware developed by STOP/Djvu uses strong AES (sometimes RSA) algorithms, it may still be possible to approach successful decryption of some ransomware versions. Feasible tools and instructions can be found in our guide below. Also, if you have backup copies stored on another external or cloud storage, you can use them to recover your data quite easily. Note that deleting the virus will not unlock access to data, but it is important to do it to prevent ransomware from continuing its further operation.

How Hhee Ransomware infected your computer

Infections of such tend to engage a number of different channels to overarch a bigger number of victims. Trojans, e-mail spam letters, backdoors, keyloggers, fake software updates/installers, phishing techniques, NAS vulnerabilities, and other similar vectors can be abused to deliver various malware. E-mail spam letters are usually fake messages disguised as something legitimate or urgent. Their purpose is to deceive users into opening malicious attachments or links that install infections. “DHL delivery notifications”, “Lottery winnings”, “Bank statements”, etc. can be fake and designed to fool inexperienced or naive users. Be careful and do not click on .DOCX; .PDF; .XLSX; .EXE;, RAR; .ZIP; or .JS file formats in suspicious e-mail letters since they can be modified to be able to install infections. Various links should also be avoided. If you want to take more steps towards protecting yourself against such threats in the future, we recommend you read our guide below. There is lots of useful information and tools one can benefit from.

1. Download Hhee Ransomware Removal Tool
2. Get decryption tool for .hhee 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. Restore media files with Media Repair
7. How to protect from threats like Hhee Ransomware

Virus modifies “hosts” file to block Windows updates, downloading antivirus programs, and visiting sites related to security news or offering security solutions. Hhee Ransomware comes along with AZORult trojan, which was initially created to steal logins and passwords. The process of infection also looks like installing Windows updates, the malware shows a fake window, that mimics the update process.

It uses rdpclip.exe to replace a legal Windows file and to launch an attack on a computer network. After encrypting the files, the encrypter is deleted using the delself.bat command file. Hhee Ransomware virus is propagated via spam attack with malicious e-mail attachments and using manual PC hacking. Can be distributed by hacking through an unprotected RDP configuration, fraudulent downloads, exploits, web injections, fake updates, repackaged, and infected installers. The virus assigns a certain ID to the victims, which is used to name those files and supposedly to send a decryption key. Great tools to protect against Hhee Ransomware are: Emsisoft Anti-Malware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

How to remove Hhee Ransomware manually

It is not recommended to remove Hhee Ransomware manually, for safer solution use Removal Tools instead.

Hhee Ransomware files:

_readme.txt
rdpclip.exe
delself.bat
{randomname}.exe

Hhee Ransomware registry keys:

no information

How to decrypt and restore .hhee files

Use automated decryptors

Download STOP Djvu Decryptor from EmsiSoft (.hhee variations)

IMPORTANT: Read this detailed guide on using STOP Djvu Decryptor to avoid file corruption and time wasting.

STOP Djvu Decryptor is able to decrypt .hhee files, encrypted by Hhee Ransomware. This tool was developed by EmsiSoft. It works in automatic mode, but in most cases works only for files encrypted with offline keys. Download it here:

Download STOP Djvu Decryptor

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 .hhee files by uploading samples to Dr. Web Ransomware Decryption Service. Analysis of 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 Hhee Ransomware and removed it from your computer, you can try decrypting 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 .hhee 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.

Use Media Repair to decrypt media files encrypted with .hhee

1. Download Media Repair tool.
2. Right-click on the downloaded archive, and select Extract to Media_Repair\.
3. Then double-click on the extracted .exe file to launch the utility.
4. At first, you have to choose which file type you want to decrypt. You can do it from the drop-down menu in the utility.
5. Next, browser the folder with encrypted or reference files. Choose any of them and click on the Test icon located in the top right corner.
6. Media Repair will display a pop-up message with information on whether it can repair the selected file or not.
7. After checking if it is possible or not, select your reference file and click on the icon right under the Test button we used in step #5.
8. If the file pair is properly matched, you can move on and hit the Play button to start repairing. You can also stop the process anytime by clicking on the Stop button.

How to protect computer from viruses, like Hhee 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. Hhee 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.

Download iDrive

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