Stone Ransomware

The Stone Ransomware is a file-locker based on the source code of the STOP Ransomware projects. As a member of the STOP Ransomware family, it is secure to state that the Stone Ransomware is not decryptable via free tools, and the only people in possession of a working decryption solution are the threat’s authors. Unfortunately for the victims of the Stone Ransomware, the operators of this ransomware are not willing to provide the solution free of charge, and they are looking to receive a hefty payment in exchange for the decryptor.

When the Stone Ransomware infects a computer, it will try to encrypt as many files as possible by targeting commonly used file types immediately. The victims of this file-locker are likely to end up being unable to access important documents, photos, videos, archives, databases, spreadsheets and other files. They should be able to recognize the locked files easily due to the ‘.stone’ extension that the Stone Ransomware will add to their names.

After it completes the attack, the Stone Ransomware drops the ‘_readme.txt’ ransom note, which instructs the victims to contact gorentos@bitmessage.ch if they want to learn how to recover their files. However, users who opt to contact the attackers may be offered to pay some Bitcoin immediately if they wish to get access to the decryption software. Of course, we advise against accepting this offer since there is no way you can be sure that the Stone Ransomware’s authors will stay true to their word.

The only guaranteed way to recover from the attack of the Stone Ransomware is to be able to restore all of your files from a backup. If this option is not available to you, we would advise you to look into alternative data recovery software.