Sspq Virus Ransomware (.sspq File)

What is Sspq ransomware?

Sspq ransomware is always a thing that is better to avoid. This virus harms too much, not only your files but also your wallet. Moreover, it also breaks into your computer’s configurations and weakens your system. Thus, it is better to prevent its appearance than to think about how to deal with the consequences of its activity.

Almost all cases of Sspq virus injection are related to the use of “free” programs. These apps are about to be purchased, but hackers remove the license checking to be launched and used without any payments. While dealing with license checking, hackers can easily add malware to the program code. Which one - depends only on how much they are paid for this. Sspq ransomware is another example of such a virus.

Salsa20 is the encryption algorithm used by this virus for file encryption. It is not the strongest among the existing ones, but its strength is heavily increased by the key stored on the remote server. Since ransomware maintainers control servers, there is no way to get vital besides paying the ransom. Brute force is useless because of the vast number of possible keys (>1*10^78). File decryption tools may give you a chance, but the opportunity to get your files back is low.

Encryption process

The Sspq ransomware uses the Salsa20 encryption algorithm. That is not the strongest method, but it still provides an overwhelming amount of possible decryption keys. To brute force the 78-digit number of keys, you need 3.5 unvigintillion years (1*10^65), even if you use the most powerful regular PC. Quantum computers can show a bit better results, but it is still too slow to get your files back while you are alive.

The exact algorithm of encryption is next: malware scans each folder for the files it is able to encrypt. Then, when it finds the target, it makes a copy of your file, removes the original one, encrypts the copy and leaves it instead of the removed original. Such a procedure is done to prevent the situation when you have already opened the file, so ransomware is not able to read it because of the Windows restrictions. To each encrypted copy, the virus adds the specific extension - ".sspq". Then, ransomware creates a _readme.txt file in the folder where the encrypted file is located, and goes to the next folder.

Such an encryption method can be exploited for file recovery. Since the original file is deleted, you may try to recover it using the file recovery tools. The less time is passed - the bigger the chance to get your files back, so hurry up!

Another specific moment that can help you to use the files even after the encryption is the fact that Sspq ransomware encrypts only the first 150KB of each file. Hence, you can try to run a big file, such as video or music, without the encryption. Similar feature also works with other ransomware families - Dharma, Conti and Makop encrypt the same 150KB.

Ransom note: _readme.txt

Ransom note is the same for the whole ransomware family. In fact, it is one of the main signs of to which family the certain ransomware belongs. Here is the typical note for STOP/Djvu family:

Indicators of Compromise(IOC)

File Name	MD5	File Size
📜 SAMPLE.EXE	7d889874c3b57f8791c3af627a409a28	858624