The makers of the Thanatos Ransomware were careless to say the least when releasing their malware. When the Thanatos Ransomware infects a computer, it generates a new key for each encrypted file. Unfortunately, these keys are never saved which means that if you pay the ransom, there is no actual way to decrypt your files.

The makers of the Ransomware warn that "files can only be decrypted by our decode tool." 

But guess what? Malware researcher Francesco Muroni states that this is impossible because the keys are never saved anywhere. This is another example of why law enforcement officials generally ask that victims never give into Ransomware demands simply because you are dealing with criminals that cannot be trusted.

You will know you have been infected by the Thanatos Ransomware if you see files that are named *.THANATOS (see screenshot below)