What is Joker ransomware?
Joker is an illegal program that makes money via data ransom (this is why it’s called ransomware). It infiltrates the victim’s computer and encrypts all files it can find using cryptographic algorithms. This renders the files inaccessible; to view and edit them again, they need to be decrypted. You can think of it as password-locking. Of course, the victim is not given the password; instead, the hackers say that the only way to decrypt the files is to pay them.
Joker specifically belongs to the VoidCrypt ransomware family. Files locked by this ransomware are given .Joker file extension, which is how the virus got its name to begin with. The virus also leaves two ransom notes, “Decryption-Guide.HTA” and “Decryption-Guide.txt”. They contain the same information, but the first one appears automatically, as a pop-up. You can read the full text on the image above, but here are the highlights.
The note does not mention any specific price; it merely asks the victim to contact the hacker to negotiate. It is also written in very poor English.
Giving into these demands is not recommended; often, the hackers simply take the money and disappear without giving the victims their files back. You can, however, remove Joker ransomware and decrypt .Joker files by following the guide below.