How to remove Weon Ransomware and decrypt .weon files

What is Weon Ransomware

Weon Ransomware is one of the newest versions developed by the STOP (Djvu) family. It was first spotted in the end of May 2023. This ransomware targets various types of personal data (e.g. images, videos, documents, etc.) using online keys randomly generated for each victim. Once they are applied and data becomes encrypted, users are no longer able to access and interact with it. During the encryption process, all of the files get assigned with .weon extension. This means that files will change their name and reset their icons. For example, a file like 1.pdf will be changed to 1.pdf.weon and lose its initial icon at the end of encryption. Then, just like other recent versions of the STOP (Djvu) family, Weon creates a text note called _readme.txt that contains decryption instructions. No matter which one was dropped on your PC, all of them display the same information.

Cybercriminals say that all of your data has been strongly encrypted. The only feasible way to recover the files is to purchase the decryption tool and unique key. They also offer a so-called decryption guarantee. You can send 1 file (not valuable) to cybercriminals, which will be decrypted for free. By doing so, they prove their capability of decrypting your data. The decryption software provided by cyber criminals costs $980 in total unless you contact them within 72 hours. If you manage to fit in this timeline, the price will be dropped from $980 to $490. Unfortunately, the newest versions of STOP Ransomware are all using unique online keys, which are almost impossible to access without paying the ransom. Third-party tools are not able to decipher online keys unless they were retrieved and publicly opened. In other cases, the only way to restore files for free is by copying data from backup devices. If none of them were created prior to the infection, the chance to decrypt your files is almost non-existent. Whatever the case, it is vital to remove Weon Ransowmare and try to use some recovery tools to regain the data. To prevent the loss of data in the future, you should create backups of data using physical storage or cloud services. More information on that can be found below.

How Weon Ransomware infected your computer

Ransomware infections are notoriously spread via e-mail spam messages, fake software cracking tools, unprotected RDP configuration, trojans, forged update installers, backdoors, keyloggers, and many more. Usually, e-mail spam appears to be the most exploited around ransomware spreaders. Extortionists create thousands of messages delivered to multiple users. Usually, advanced e-mail services like Google identify such messages as spam because they contain identical and suspicious information. Despite this, some users shed excessive curiosity and look into received messages. If this is the message containing ransomware, it will be bundled with malicious attachments. Very often, such attachments consist of MS Office documents, PDFs, executables, and JavaScript files. Once downloaded or opened online, your PC will be infected in the background mode. As a result, it will undergo severe changes like data encryption. To prevent this, you apparently have to be more cautious around the web. Do not interact with unknown and suspicious resources received out of nowhere. This advice applies to all distribution methods mentioned above. Below, we show a number of tools that will help establish thorough protection against such threats in the future.

1. Download Weon Ransomware Removal Tool
2. Get decryption tool for .weon 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 Weon Ransomware

Virus modifies “hosts” file to block Windows updates, downloading antivirus programs, and visiting sites related to security news or offering security solutions. Weon 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. Weon 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 Weon Ransomware are: Emsisoft Anti-Malware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

How to remove Weon Ransomware manually

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

Weon Ransomware files:

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

Weon Ransomware registry keys:

no information

How to decrypt and restore .weon files

Use automated decryptors

Download STOP Djvu Decryptor from EmsiSoft (.weon 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 .weon files, encrypted by Weon 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 .weon 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 Weon 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 .weon 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 .weon

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 Weon 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. Weon 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