How to remove Haron Ransomware and decrypt .chaddad files

What is Haron Ransomware

Haron is one of many ransomware infections that target encryption of personal data to demand paying the so-called ransom. Such malware makes sure most of the data stored on your device is locked out from regular access. Put differently, users affected by ransomware are no longer permitted to access the files. To learn if they have been encrypted, it is enough to look at their appearance. Haron adds the .chaddad extension to each of the files and forces the reset of icons as well. For example, a file named 1.pdf will be changed to 1.pdf.chaddad and drop its icon to blank. After this part of infection gets to a close, victims receive two notes (RESTORE_FILES_INFO.txt and RESTORE_FILES_INFO.hta) with decryption instructions.

These instructions are meant to inform users about encryption. In addition to that, they claim cybercriminals to be the only figures able to recover your data. For this, users are asked to purchase unique decryption software held by extortionists themselves. Victims have to access a link via the Tor browser to complete the required payment. Sometimes frauds forget to put the contact or payment links, which makes recovery via cybercriminals automatically impossible. Whatever the case, it is not recommended to meet ransomware requests. Developers behind file-encrypting software are inclined to fool their victims even after obtaining the ransom. For now, there are no 100% efficient tools that could decrypt Haron ciphers for free. The best-case scenario is recovering files from backup copies via physical drives or cloud services like Microsoft OneDrive. Otherwise, you risk losing your money when paying the ransom. Before doing any decryption yourself, it is important to erase the virus from your computer. You can do this by following our tutorial below.

How Haron Ransomware infected your computer

Ransomware infections are most known to be distributed via e-mail spam letters, trojans, backdoors, keyloggers, unprotected RDP configuration, malicious torrent downloads, fake software cracking tools, updates, and more to stretch out this list. E-mail spam is often abused by cybercriminals due to its accessibility of effectiveness. They send hundreds of identical messages disguised as legitimate. It is common to see “”official”, “urgent”, “important”, or similar tags inside of these letters. In fact, they are likely to be fake messages designed to spread malicious software. If you see .pdf, .docx, .exe, or .js files asked to be open inside of the message, then it is a dangerous ring. Cybercriminals tend to use these file formats to hide malware and force users into opening them. If you suspect such messages to be fake and malicious, better delete them and block the sender address to avoid unpurposed clicks. The biggest things capitalized on by malware developers are the inexperience and inattentiveness of users. It is important to keep your head on a swivel whilst surfing down the web. Never open or interact with dubious software you are not sure is safe. Below, we have prepared an ultimate guide that will help you protect your network against various malware types in the future.

1. Download Haron Ransomware Removal Tool
2. Get decryption tool for .chaddad 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 Haron Ransomware

Haron Ransomware files:


read_it.txt
{randomname}.exe


Haron Ransomware registry keys:

no information

How to decrypt and restore .chaddad files

Use automated decryptors

Download Kaspersky RakhniDecryptor

Use following tool from Kaspersky called Rakhni Decryptor, that can decrypt .chaddad 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 .chaddad files by uploading samples to Dr. Web Ransomware Decryption Service. Analyzing 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 Haron Ransomware and removed it 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 .chaddad 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 Haron 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. Haron 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.