How to remove Hydra Ransomware and decrypt .hydra files

What is Hydra Ransomware

Hydra is a ransomware infection that makes users’ data inaccessible by running thorough encryption. Besides being unable to access the data, users may spot some visual changes as well. Hydra assigns a new string of symbols containing cyber criminals’ email addresses, randomly generated ID assigned to each victim, and the .HYDRA extension at the end. To illustrate, a file like 1.pdf will change its look to [HydaHelp1@tutanota.com][ID=C279F237]1.pdf.HYDRA and reset the original icon to blank. As soon as all files end up encrypted, the virus promotes ransom instructions to guide victims through the recovery process. This can be found inside of #FILESENCRYPTED.txt text note, which is created after encryption.

Hydra developers say victims can restore their files by writing to the attached e-mail address (HydaHelp1@tutanota.com or HydraHelp1@protonmail.com). After this, cybercriminals should give further instructions to purchase the decryption of files. The price remains unknown until you contact developers, but some frauds may require hundreds to thousands of dollars in cryptocurrencies. In addition to that, the text written inside the note assures nobody will fool you after paying the ransom. Extortionists say you can send 1 file to test free decryption. Although this proves they are actually able to decrypt your data, trusting cybercriminals in that matter remains a huge risk nonetheless. This is why the best way to avoid spending money on paid decryption is to recover your files using backup copies. If you managed to save and store them on external devices prior to the infection, then recovering data should not be a problem. However, if you do not have any other option available, you can still try some third-party instruments to recover your data. Even though there is none that could guarantee safe and 100% decryption of Hydra files, they may be able to do partial decryption regardless. You can search for such tools on your own, but better check out the guide below to see our recommendations.

How Hydra Ransomware infected your computer

The list of infiltration methods abused by cybercriminals usually consists of malicious spam letters, trojans, backdoors, keyloggers, unreliable downloads of pirated or cracked software, fake updates, and other channels like hacking vulnerable RDP configuration. At this point, statistics show that e-mail spam has been one of the most popular and effective ways of distributing malware. This method enables developers to send a flow of identical letters marked as “legitimate”, “urgent”, or something similar. Thanks to this little, yet powerful visual trick, many users get curious and open the received letters. In case they are malicious indeed, future victims will spot either some files or links leading to download pages. Most often developers use popular files like .DOCX, .PDF, .EXE, .RAR, .ZIP, or .JS to store executable scripts meant to install some piece of malware. After these files are executed, there is no way to stop malware from infecting your system. This is why it is important to stay as far as possible from files received in such a suspicious way. Besides this, malicious programs can punish your system after downloading some pirated, cracked, or fake legitimate program from unofficial and file-hosting websites like Peer-to-Peer sharing networks (Torrent clients, Gnutella, eMule, etc.). Getting infected with a malware like Hydra is also a matter of individual cases, but you can surely minimize the risk by using only trusted resources, even that host pirated software. To protect your system against threats like Hydra Ransomware in the future, it is worth reading our guide below to garner some vital security tips.

1. Download Hydra Ransomware Removal Tool
2. Get decryption tool for .HYDRA 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 Hydra Ransomware

Hydra Ransomware files:


#FILESENCRYPTED.txt
{randomname}.exe


Hydra Ransomware registry keys:

no information

How to decrypt and restore .HYDRA files

Use automated decryptors

Download Kaspersky RakhniDecryptor

Use following tool from Kaspersky called Rakhni Decryptor, that can decrypt .HYDRA 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 .HYDRA 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 Hydra 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 .HYDRA 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 Hydra 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. Hydra 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