What is Iq20 virus?
The renaming will be executed by the following pattern: id-xxxxxx.[contact_email].iq20. In the course of encryption, a file entitled, for instance, “report.docx” will be altered to “report.docx.id-9ECFA84E.[].iq20”.
In each folder that contains the encoded files, a info.txt text file will be found. It is a ransom money note. It contains information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can get this tool after contacting through email. That is it.
| Name | Iq20 Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Dharma ransomware |
| Extension | .iq20 |
| Ransomware note | info.txt |
| Contact | |
| Detection2 | BScope.Trojan.KillMBR, Trojan:Win32/SmokeLoader.GTB!MTB, Trojan:Win32/Raccoon.RF!MTB |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) get a .iq20 extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Iq20 virus |
The info.txt document accompanying the Iq20 ransomware provides the following discouraging information:
all your data has been locked us You want to return? write email or
In the screenshot below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Iq20 looks like. Each filename has the “.iq20” extension appended to it.
How did my machine catch Iq20 ransomware?
There are currently three most popular ways for hackers to have the Iq20 virus working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer file transfer.
If you access your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a ransomware file enclosed in them. So it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan file scheme3. A Trojan is a program that gets into your PC pretending to be something else. Imagine, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some program. However, what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful program that corrupts your data. As the update file can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the things you’re downloading. The optimal way is to use the software developers’ official websites.
As for the peer networks like torrent trackers or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. You can never know what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is complete.
