Retefe Banking Trojan Removal

This article can help you to remove Retefe Virus. The step by step removal works for every version of Microsoft Windows.

Trojans are the first thing we imagine when someone mentions the term “PC virus.” And there is a good reason for that. These viruses are deadly. The newest member of their malicious family is a Trojan named Retefe. This particular Trojan is programmed to hijack your online banking sessions. The virus reroutes your traffic to and from target banks via remote servers. The hackers, of course, use servers hosted on the Tor network, and thus, they are almost impossible to be caught. Currently, the Retefe Banking Trojan targets banks in the UK, Austria, Sweden, Japan, and Switzerland. Yet, the virus is quite likely to expand its target list. Of course, it has only one goal – to get your money. Retefe Banking Trojan is a sophisticated virus. Once installed, it infects your entire system. The virus can add and remove entries from your System Registry, can corrupt files and it can even create copies of itself in hidden folders. Keep this in mind when you attempt to remove the Trojan. You remove it completely, you should delete all components of the parasite. Miss one, and the virus will restore itself. One more thing to mention here. If you delete an essential system file, you will end up with the Blue Screen of Death. Therefore, we recommend you to use a trustworthy anti-virus application.

How did I get infected with?

The Retefe Banking Trojan is distributed via massive spam email campaign. The spam messages urge the user to download a corrupted attachment. Once you attempt to open the attachment, a malicious code is executed. It downloads the payload file of the virus from a remote server. The payload file installs the virus and that’s it. Your computer is infected. All this, of course, happens in seconds. You will not realize what is going on. Not until it’s too late. A little extra caution, however, could have prevented this virus from succeeding. Learn your lessons. From now on, don’t open messages from strangers. Verify the sender’s contacts by entering the questionable email address into some search engine. If the address was used for shady business, someone might have complained online. But, don’t stop just here. Hackers are imaginative. They seem to always manage to find new ways to camouflage their viruses. Be always vigilant and doubting. If you receive a letter from a company or organization, go to their official website. You can find their authorized email addresses there. Compare them with the one you have received a message from. If they don’t match, delete the pretender immediately. Only your caution can keep your PC clean.

Why is this dangerous?

The Retefe Banking Trojan is extremely dangerous. It is a Trojan after all. Originally, these viruses were used to spy on their victims. Retefe Banking Trojan is not an exception. It targets your online banking service but it can also use other strategies to get your money. The virus communicates with its owners. It can send and receive files. Say goodbye to your privacy. The Trojan can send your personal files to the hackers. Can you imagine what may happen? These people are criminals. They will use this information to blackmail you. Or, the hackers can simply re-program the Trojan to infect your computer with ransomware. You may lose both your money and files. The Retefe Banking Trojan has no place on your computer. With this infection on board, your computer is useless. You cannot use it to enter any type of sensitive information, you cannot use it for online banking, you cannot log-in into social networks, you cannot even check your email inbox. If the hackers get in possession of any personally identifiable information about you, you may become a victim of identity theft. Do not let this scenario to unfold. Take immediate action against the Retefe Banking Trojan!

Manual Retefe Removal Instructions

The Retefe infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Retefe infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

STEP 1: Track down Retefe related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Retefe startup location

STEP 3: Delete Retefe traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Retefe related processes in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Retefe startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Retefe virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

Step 4: Undo the possible damage done by Retefe

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Retefe, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

 

• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Retefe Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible virus leftovers or temporary files.