What is Iowd ransomware?
Iowd is a computer virus that illegally generates money by encrypting the files on infected computers and demanding payment for decrypting them. Viruses that make money in this way are called ransomware because they demand a ransom for the victim’s files.
There are thousands of ransomware viruses out there, and many more are created each day. That is because these viruses are not unique; hackers do not make them from scratch. Iowd is a part of the ransomware family known as STOP/Djvu. Viruses that belong to this family share the majority of their code, and are very similar to each other as a result.
All of them, Iowd incuded, encrypt the filed and give them a unique extension (.iowd file extension, in our case). Then, they create a ransom note, always called “_readme.txt”. You can read the note on the image above. The demands in the note are, too, always the same, either 490 or 980 US dollars (depending on how quickly the victim pays).
It is worth noting that you can remove Iowd ransomware and decrypt .iowd files without involving the hackers. So if you don’t want to pay them, you don’t have to. Instead, read the guide below to learn about your options.