How to remove the RedEnergy malware from your computer

What kind of malware is RedEnergy Stealer?

RedEnergy is the name of an information stealer that employs a fake update campaign to target multiple industry sectors. This malicious software has the capability to extract information from different web browsers, allowing sensitive data to be stolen. Additionally, it incorporates various modules to facilitate ransomware activities.

Since RedEnergy possesses the unique ability to function as both a stealer and ransomware, it is categorized as Stealer-as-a-Ransomware.

More about RedEnergy Stealer

When triggered, the malicious RedEnergy executable disguises itself as a genuine browser update, effectively camouflaging its true nature. It cunningly presents itself as a legitimate update from well-known browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Opera, aiming to deceive unsuspecting users.

The malware then deposits four files (two temporary files and two executables) onto the targeted system. Among these files, one serves as the malicious payload. Concurrently, the malware initiates an additional background process representing the malicious payload. As this payload is executed, it shows an insulting message to the victim.

Also, RedEnergy incorporates a persistence mechanism that allows it to remain on an infected system even after restarting or shutting down. This mechanism ensures that the malware remains active and can continue its malicious activities without interruption.

As part of its operation, RedEnergy integrates ransomware modules into its payload, encrypting the victim's data and appending the ".FACKOFF!" extension to the names of all encrypted files. It then presents the victim with a ransom message ("read_it.txt") demanding payment to restore access to the files and changes the desktop wallpaper.

Another action performed by the ransomware modules is the deletion of data from the shadow drive, effectively eliminating any potential backups.

Additionally, the malicious executable modifies the desktop.ini file, which holds important configuration settings for file system folders. Through this modification, RedEnergy gains the ability to manipulate the appearance of file system folders, potentially enhancing its ability to hide its presence and actions on the compromised system.

Lastly, RedEnergy is capable of stealing data from various web browsers. This can result in the theft of personal information, login credentials, financial data, online activities, session-related information, and other data.

Conclusion

In conclusion, RedEnergy is a sophisticated malware that operates as a stealer and ransomware. It employs deceptive techniques, such as masquerading as legitimate browser updates and utilizing persistence mechanisms to maintain its presence on infected systems.

With its ability to steal sensitive information, encrypt files, and demand ransom for their release, RedEnergy poses a significant risk to individuals and organizations, underscoring the importance of robust cybersecurity measures and vigilant online behavior.

How did RedEnergy Stealer infiltrate my computer?

RedEnergy employs a deceptive redirection technique to infect computers, targeting industries with notable LinkedIn pages. Users who try to access a targeted company's website through their LinkedIn profile are unknowingly redirected to a malicious site.

Once there, they are prompted to install what appears to be a legitimate browser update. However, they inadvertently download the RedEnergy executable instead of a genuine update.

To further deceive victims, the campaign uses a disguised download domain that poses as a ChatGPT site, enticing users to download a fake offline version of ChatGPT. This fake version also contains a malicious executable used to distribute RedEnergy.

Multiple related campaigns have been discovered, all employing the FAKEUPDATES tactic and reusing infrastructure and tactics to maximize their impact and profits. The cybercriminals responsible for these campaigns target organizations across various industries, leveraging their established reputations and online presence to effectively deceive unsuspecting users.

How to avoid installation of malware?

In order to protect a computer, it is crucial to maintain regular updates for your operating system and software. When dealing with email attachments or encountering suspicious links, especially from unfamiliar or untrusted sources, exercise caution and remain vigilant.

It is also recommended to use reputable antivirus or anti-malware software to provide an additional layer of protection and to conduct regular system scans to identify and address potential threats. In addition, avoid downloading files from untrusted websites and be cautious of pop-up advertisements or deceptive download buttons that may lead to malicious content.

If you believe that your computer is already infected, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Files encrypted by the RedEnergy malware (with the ".FACKOFF!" extension):

Desktop wallpaper changed by RedEnergy:

Ransom note provided by RedEnergy ("read_it.txt"):

Text in the ransom note and wallpaper:

YOUR FILES ENCRYPTED VIRUS !!!
ANY ATTEMPT THEIR DECRYPT BY, IS ZERO
WE HAVE A DECKER, YOU CAN BUY IT FOR ---100$--- At Bitcoin
WRITE ON MAIL(GEORGER1212@proton.me), WE WILL ISSUE YOU DECODER  (KEY DECRYPTION)
BUY OR EXCHANGE Bitcoin CAN HERE OR WHERE THE YET:
Coinmama - hxxps://www.coinmama.com, Bitpanda - hxxps://www.bitpanda.com
REQUISITES
Payment informationAmount: 0.005 BTC
Bitcoin Address:  bc1qkvykfukshqywqe40pn9kqv5xc8xr5dwl46k99k

MAIL FOR COMMUNICATION : GEORGER1212@proton.me

How to remove malware manually?

Most trojan infections can be removed by running a full system scan with Combo Cleaner. The full manual procedure below is for cases where automatic removal failed, where you want to verify a scan caught everything, or where the threat has multiple persistence points.

Tools you'll need

Combo Cleaner Antivirus 7-days free trial

Recommended primary scanner. VB100 certified. The 7-day free trial is available.

Microsoft Defender Offline Free · built-in

Built into Windows. Boots to a clean environment to catch rootkits.

Process Explorer Free

From Microsoft Sysinternals. Better than Task Manager - shows full paths and signatures.

Autoruns Free

From Microsoft Sysinternals. Lists every place malware can persist on your system.

Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT) Free

Official Microsoft on-demand scanner. Always-current signatures - expires every 10 days.

Phase 1~ 5 min

Contain - limit the damage

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1

Disconnect from the network

30 secNo tool needed

Unplug your Ethernet cable and turn off Wi-Fi. If you're on a laptop, the airplane-mode key works fastest.

Why this matters

Many trojans exfiltrate data - saved browser passwords, banking sessions, screenshots - and accept remote commands. Cutting the network stops both immediately. Keep it disconnected until Phase 4.

2

Boot into Safe Mode with Networking

3 min

Safe Mode loads a minimal set of drivers and stops most malware from auto-running. "With Networking" lets you download tools - re-enable Wi-Fi only after you've booted in.

Windows 11

Open Settings → System → Recovery. Click Restart now next to Advanced startup.

Your computer will restart into the "Choose an option" menu. Click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. After the second reboot, press 5 or F5.

Windows 10

Click the Windows logo, hold Shift, click the Power icon and choose Restart. In the Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. Press F5.

Windows 8

Go to the Start Screen, type Advanced, select Settings → Advanced startup options → Restart now → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup settings → Restart → F5.

Note: Windows 8 reached end-of-life in January 2023 - running on it puts you at much higher risk of reinfection.

Windows 7

Click Start → Shut Down → Restart → OK. As the system boots, press F8 repeatedly until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, then choose Safe Mode with Networking.

Note: Windows 7 reached end-of-life in January 2020 - running on it puts you at much higher risk of reinfection.

Phase 2~ 15 min

Identify - find what's hiding

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3

Inspect running processes with Process Explorer

Tool: Process Explorer5 min

Download Process Explorer from Microsoft Sysinternals. Run it as Administrator. Click Options → Verify Image Signatures and View → Lower Pane View → DLLs.

Sort by "Verified Signer." Anything unsigned running from %AppData%, %LocalAppData%, %Temp%, or %ProgramData% is suspicious. Right-click → Properties to see the full image path. Right-click → "Search Online" to look up unfamiliar process names.

Why not just Task Manager

Task Manager hides full file paths, doesn't show digital signatures, and groups processes in ways that make malware easy to miss. Process Explorer is the same tool Microsoft engineers use.

4

Map every persistence point with Autoruns

Tool: Autoruns 14.x10 min

Download Autoruns. Right-click Autoruns.exe and choose Run as administrator - without elevation, Autoruns can't inspect protected registry hives.

In the menu, open Options → Hide Microsoft Entries and Options → Hide Empty Locations, then click Refresh.

Modern trojans don't just live in startup. Walk through these tabs and look for unsigned or unfamiliar entries:

• Logon - classic Run/RunOnce keys
• Scheduled Tasks - frequent hiding spot, especially tasks with PowerShell, MSHTA, or rundll32 actions
• Services - unsigned services in non-Microsoft folders
• WMI - Event Subscriptions are a stealthy persistence mechanism (MITRE T1546.003)
• Image Hijacks - Image File Execution Options "Debugger" abuse
• AppInit - DLLs loaded into every GUI process
• Browser plug-ins - unsigned add-ons across all installed browsers

Pro tip

Right-click any suspicious entry → "Jump to Image" to see the actual file. Right-click → "Search Online" opens VirusTotal for the file hash. Don't delete yet - just write down the file paths and entry names. We'll remove them after the scans.

5

Check the hosts file and DNS settings

3 minBuilt into Windows

Trojans often redirect bank, antivirus, and update domains to attacker-controlled servers by editing the hosts file or DNS settings.

Hosts file: Open Notepad as Administrator and open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Legitimate entries are commented with #. Any uncommented IP-to-domain mapping is suspicious - especially redirects for microsoft.com, windowsupdate, or your bank.

DNS settings: Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run ipconfig /all. Confirm your DNS servers point to your ISP, your router, or a known public resolver (Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Google 8.8.8.8). Then open Settings → Network & internet → [your adapter] → DNS server assignment and verify both DNS and DNS over HTTPS (DoH) settings haven't been hijacked.

Why this matters

A clean PC with hijacked DNS is still a compromised PC. You'll think you're at chase.com and you'll be at the attacker's clone.

Phase 3~ 60-90 min

Remove - three scans, one cleanup

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No single antivirus catches everything. The order below is intentional: offline scan first (catches rootkits before Windows fully loads), then on-demand scanners on the running system, then manual cleanup of anything they missed.

6

Run Microsoft Defender Offline

Tool: Built into Windows15 min

Reboot to normal Windows. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Scan options. Select Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) and click Scan now. Your computer will restart into a stripped-down environment and scan before the full operating system loads.

Why this comes first

Rootkits and bootkits hide from any scanner running on the same Windows session that's already infected. A pre-boot offline scan sees the disk before the malware can hide itself.

Recommended antivirus

Combo Cleaner

VB100 certified. Includes anti-trojan, registry/persistence scanning, anti-spyware in one pass. The 7-day free trial is available.

Download Combo Cleaner

7

Run Combo Cleaner full system scan

Tool: Combo Cleaner20-40 min

Install Combo Cleaner and run a full system scan (not the quick scan). Let it complete fully, review the detected threats, and apply the recommended actions. Combo Cleaner will quarantine known trojans and registry persistence.

8

Run Microsoft Safety Scanner as a second-opinion scan

Tool: Microsoft Safety Scanner15 min

Download Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT.exe), Microsoft's free on-demand tool. The binary expires every 10 days, which means every download has the latest signatures. Run a full scan after Combo Cleaner to catch anything one engine alone might miss.

Why a second scan

Different scanning engines catch different threats. Running an additional Microsoft scan after Combo Cleaner is the single most underused verification step in malware removal.

9

Manually remove anything still listed in Autoruns

Tool: Autoruns10 min

Reopen Autoruns. Anything you flagged in Step 4 that's still present hasn't been caught by the automated scans. For each remaining suspicious entry: right-click → Delete in Autoruns (this removes the persistence registration), then navigate to the file path and delete the actual file. Empty the Recycle Bin.

Important

Some malware files reappear after deletion because something else on the system recreates them. If you delete a file and it returns within minutes, you have a remaining persistence point that Autoruns didn't show - usually a service or scheduled task running under SYSTEM. Re-run the scans from Steps 6-8 or proceed to a clean install (see end of guide).

Phase 4~ 15 min

Recover - restore browsers and security

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10

Reset browsers and clear notification permissions

5 min

Trojans and adware frequently hijack browsers - change the default search engine, install rogue extensions, or grant themselves notification permissions to keep displaying scam pop-ups even after the malware is gone.

• Chrome: visit chrome://settings/reset and click "Restore settings to their original defaults." Then visit chrome://settings/content/notifications and remove any unfamiliar sites.
• Edge: visit edge://settings/reset. Then check edge://settings/content/notifications.
• Firefox: open about:support and click Refresh Firefox (Firefox uses "Refresh," not "Reset"). Then check Settings → Privacy & Security → Permissions → Notifications.

Review installed extensions in each browser and remove anything you don't recognize, especially extensions you didn't install yourself.

11

Re-enable Defender, Tamper Protection, and update everything

10 min

Many trojans disable security software. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings and confirm Real-time protection, Cloud-delivered protection, and Tamper Protection are all turned on. Tamper Protection prevents malware from disabling Defender silently.

Then run Windows Update (Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates) and update your browsers and applications. The infection vector that let the trojan in originally usually involves outdated software.

Phase 5~ 15 min + 7 days

Verify & secure

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12

Change passwords from a clean device

20 min⚠ Critical

If the trojan was an info-stealer (Lumma, RedLine, Vidar, and similar are extremely common), assume every password saved in your browser is compromised. Change them from a different, known-clean device - your phone is fine if it's not infected.

Recommended order:

1. Primary email first - it's the recovery hub for everything else
2. Banking and financial accounts
3. Password manager master password (if you use one)
4. Social media, shopping, and remaining accounts

Where available, enable phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (passkeys / FIDO2 hardware keys / authenticator apps) - SMS-based MFA is bypassable by sophisticated attackers.

13

Verify the clean and monitor for 7 days

5 min + 1 week monitoring

Reconnect to the network and run one final full scan with Combo Cleaner. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and switch to the Startup apps tab - confirm nothing suspicious has reappeared.

Over the next 7 days, watch for symptom recurrence: unexpected high CPU usage, unknown processes returning, browser redirects, or pop-ups. If anything returns, you missed a persistence point and the procedure needs to be repeated - or you may have a deeper compromise that requires a clean install.

When to clean install Windows instead

Manual removal isn't always the right answer. Reinstalling Windows from scratch is the only way to be 100% certain when:

• The malware reappears after every removal attempt
• A bootkit or UEFI rootkit was detected (this class of threat sits below the operating system and survives a normal Windows reinstall)
• A confirmed credential-theft trojan ran with administrator privileges (Lumma, RedLine, Vidar) - the system likely has multiple unknown payloads
• The PC is used for online banking, business email, or anything where partial doubt isn't acceptable

A clean install is a 30-60 minute process: Windows 11 reinstall via Settings → System → Recovery → Reset this PC → Remove everything → Cloud download. Back up documents to external storage first, scan the backup with Combo Cleaner before restoring it, and reinstall applications fresh - never restore them from a backup of the infected system.

Important: Manual removal requires advanced computer skills. If you're not confident identifying system files from malicious files, run an automated scan with Combo Cleaner and Windows Defender and stop there - that path catches the vast majority of consumer trojans without the risk of breaking Windows by deleting the wrong file.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

My computer is infected with RedEnergy malware, should I format my storage device to get rid of it?

If your computer is infected with the RedEnergy malware, formatting your storage device can effectively remove the malware. However, it is recommended to run a thorough scan of your system using reputable antivirus or anti-malware software first. Formatting a storage device will remove all data.

What are the biggest issues that malware can cause?

The consequences of malware can vary depending on its type, ranging from identity theft and financial losses to diminished computer performance and increased vulnerability to additional infections.

What is the purpose of RedEnergy malware?

The purpose of RedEnergy malware is dual-fold. It functions as a data stealer, aiming to extract sensitive information from various web browsers. Additionally, it incorporates ransomware modules, enabling it to encrypt the user's data and demand a ransom for restoring access to the encrypted files.

How to open ".FACKOFF!" files?

Your files have been encrypted due to a ransomware infection, and in order to access them, a decryption process is necessary.

Where should I look for free decryption tools?

In case of a ransomware attack you should check the No More Ransom project website (more information above).

I can pay you a lot of money, can you decrypt files for me?

We do not offer the service of decrypting files encrypted by ransomware. Generally, it is extremely difficult to decrypt such files without the involvement of cybercriminals behind the attack unless there are flaws in the ransomware itself. Therefore, if a third party claims to provide decryption for a fee, they are likely either acting as a middleman or attempting to deceive you.

How did RedEnergy malware infiltrate my computer?

RedEnergy disguises itself as a legitimate browser update and prompts users to install it. Another method is through deceptive redirection techniques, where users attempting to visit a targeted company's website are redirected to a malicious site that initiates malware download. More information is provided in our article.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?

Combo Cleaner can identify and remove nearly all recognized malware infections. Sophisticated malware often conceals itself deeply within the system. Therefore, a full system scan is essential to ensure the thorough detection and elimination of potential threats.