How to remove Cooper Ransomware and decrypt .cooper files

What is Cooper Ransomware

Cooper is a ransomware virus that infects systems to encrypt potentially important files and demands money for their decryption. Along with running secure encryption, it also assigns the .cooper extension to affected files. For instance, a file originally named 1.pdf will change to 1.pdf.cooper and lose its original icon. After this change, files will no longer be usable, even if you remove the added extension. To reverse these changes, decryption instructions are presented within the Cooper_Recover.txt file.

Cybercriminals urge victims to contact them via e-mail and pay for unique decryption software. Threat actors are the only figures who have access to it and it is said no other tool is able to provide decryption for enciphered .cooper files. While contacting, victims are also asked to include the ID in the subject line of an e-mail message. Unfortunately, unless you have an available backup that can be used to retrieve copies of encrypted files, paying the ransom to cyber-crooks might be the only way to return back your files. Multiple ransomware infections use strong encryption algorithms and generate online keys, ensuring decryption is barely possible without the help of initial developers. It may be possible to decrypt files using third-party decryption/recovery tools, however, in very rare cases. If you do not have an available backup and you do not want to pay the attackers, then you can give a try third-party tools in our guide as a last resort option. However, please once again note that no third-party tool is currently known to be capable of running successful decryption for .cooper files. Thus, there is no guarantee that it will work in your case.

Using backups for recovery is always the safest and costless solution in case of a ransomware infection. Paying the ransom is usually not recommended as some extortionists end up fooling their victims and not sending any decryption tools even after the payment is received. Whether you choose to recover the files yourself or by paying the ransom, it is important to first get rid of the ransomware virus. Otherwise, it may continue its malicious activity and encrypt more files upon their copying or successful decryption. To make sure it is deleted fully and without traces, follow our full-fledged guide with the instructions below.

How Cooper Ransomware infected your computer

Ransomware infiltrations tend to occur via a number of distribution channels, including 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. Users get impacted by malware whenever a malicious file is downloaded and opened. This is the goal that many of the above-mentioned channels pursue – to trick people into downloading a malvertising file(s). One such example can be clearly seen in fraudulent e-mail letters where attackers often disguise malicious attachments as legitimate files with extensions .DOCX, .XLSX, .PDF, .EXE, .ZIP, .RAR, or .JS. By pretending to be trustworthy organizations such as delivery companies, tax authorities, banks, and so forth, these messages increase the chance of deceiving an inexperienced or naive user. Thus, to avoid infiltrations through this and a variety of other distribution vectors, it is important to not interact with potentially suspicious content and not download software from unofficial/pirated resources. Even a trustworthy pirated resource can be hacked by malefactors or simply overlook an upload of a malicious torrent that will contain a virus like ransomware. Therefore, always be careful with the content you get and rely on official resources for downloading software. You can also read more about protection against such threats in our guide below.

1. Download Cooper Ransomware Removal Tool
2. Get decryption tool for .cooper 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 Cooper Ransomware

Cooper Ransomware files:


Cooper_Recover.txt
{randomname}.exe


Cooper Ransomware registry keys:

no information

How to decrypt and restore .cooper files

Use automated decryptors

Download Kaspersky RakhniDecryptor

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

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 .cooper 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 Cooper 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 .cooper 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.

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 Cooper Ransomware , in future

1. Get special anti-ransomware software

Use ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware

ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware Dashboard

ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware Alert

ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware Blocked

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.

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. Cooper 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.