Mionoho Ransomware - How to remove

Mionoho is a ransomware infection. When it infects a computer, it causes files to not open and it changes their names to end with the extension “Mionoho”.

Mionoho infects Windows PCs and locks the data on them, including photos, videos, music, documents, spreadsheets, and other files. There’s no simple way to reverse the encryption. The best thing to do is to delete Mionoho and restore the files from backups.

About Mionoho ransomware:

Threat type	Ransomware.
How to recognize a Mionoho infection	Files do not open, file names end with “mionoho”, ransom notes called “OPEN ME!!!!!!.txt are created, you’re asked to pay money to get your files back.
How ransomware infects PCs	Mionoho spreads with malicious installers, email attachments, etc., it makes itself harder to stop by changing antivirus settings.
How to delete Mionoho ransomware	Use antivirus tools (Spyhunter, others) to find and delete malicious files and programs, or reset your PC, if needed, backup the encrypted files.

How does Mionoho ransomware work?

Mionoho ransomware is a new version of Clay/CryptoToys. This family of file-encrypting malware has been around since at least October of 2020, Mionoho arose in March of 2021.

How to recognize a Mionoho infection

Mionoho ransomware encrypts files and makes them unreadable. Mionoho uses cryptography to scramble the contents of files, so that the only way to read them is with a password/decryption key.

Mionoho also then changes the names of the encrypted files: it adds “.Mionoho”, for example, Document.docx.Mionoho. Removing the extension doesn’t fix the encrypted files.

To explain things, Mionoho leaves behind a ransom note. The note has instructions to contact the extortionists who are responsible for Mionoho ransomware. They leave their email address, [email protected] or other.

MIONOHO RANSOMWARE.

ALL OF YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED WITH RSA-4096 ONE TIME AND WITH AES-256 TWO TIMES WITH TWO DIFFERENT KEYS.

AND THERE’S NO WAY OF GETTING YOUR FILES BACK WITHOUT THE DECRYPTION SOFTWARE.

CONTACT THAT EMAIL [email protected] WITH YOUR PERSONAL ID:

>>> [id] <<<

YOU CAN SEND A ONE FILE TO TEST THE DECRYPTION

Mionoho may also mess with antivirus programs to stop them from blocking the attack. Modern ransomware infections try to either kill antivirus processes or add themselves to exceptions so that security programs don’t detect them. Similarly, Mionoho may also disable Task Manager or hide its own process to stop clever victims from interrupting the malware.

How and why Mionoho infects computers

The idea is that the developers of Mionoho ransomware infect the computers of innocent PC users, destroy their files, and then offer to fix them in exchange for a fee. This is how these extortionists hope to make money. There’s even a countdown timer, supposedly to show how much time is left to decrypt files.

To make sure that victims can’t restore their data without paying the ransom, Mionoho deletes backups, like Shadow Volume copies and restore points. In addition, each victim’s decryption key is unique, so there’s no way to share the ransom.

As for how Mionoho ransomware infects PCs in the first place, there are many possibilities: infected installers downloaded from shady sites, malicious files attached to spam emails, hacked RDP accounts, and so on. Some modern ransomware, such as AvosLocker and Prometheus, spread in many different ways due to their RaaS nature. But not much is known about Mionoho, so it’s hard to say how it might have infected a particular PC.

It’s good to have an antivirus program protecting you from infections, but it’s much more important to have backups of your files. With backups, even if you can’t avoid ransomware, it won’t do worse than waste a bit of your time.

How to delete Mionoho ransomware

It’s important to make sure that your computer is free of malware. Use an antivirus program, like Spyhunter, to find and delete malware. To stop ransomware from interfering with its own removal, use Safe Mode as described below.

You can also reset your PC, which should help if the other ways of removing Mionoho do not work. This deletes all the installed programs, so note what you’ll need to reinstall after the reset.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to recover Mionoho Ransomware encrypted files and remove the virus

Step 1. Restore system into last known good state using system restore

1. Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt:

for Windows 7 / Vista/ XP

• Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
• Press F8 key repeatedly until Advanced Boot Options window appears.
• Choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

for Windows 8 / 10

• Press Power at Windows login screen. Then press and hold Shift key and click Restart.
• Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings and click Restart.
• When it loads, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list of Startup Settings.

 

2.Restore System files and settings.

• When Command Prompt mode loads, enter cd restore and press Enter.
• Then enter rstrui.exe and press Enter again.
• Click “Next” in the windows that appeared.
• Select one of the Restore Points that are available before Mionoho Ransomware has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Mionoho Ransomware

After restoring your system, it is recommended to scan your computer with an anti-malware program, like Spyhunter and remove all malicious files related to Mionoho Ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Mionoho Ransomware affected files using Shadow Volume Copies

If you do not use System Restore option on your operating system, there is a chance to use shadow copy snapshots. They store copies of your files that point of time when the system restore snapshot was created. Usually Mionoho Ransomware tries to delete all possible Shadow Volume Copies, so this methods may not work on all computers. However, it may fail to do so. Shadow Volume Copies are only available with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. There are two ways to retrieve your files via Shadow Volume Copy. You can do it using native Windows Previous Versions or via Shadow Explorer. a) Native Windows Previous Versions Right-click on an encrypted file and select Properties → Previous versions tab. Now you will see all available copies of that particular file and the time when it was stored in a Shadow Volume Copy. Choose the version of the file you want to retrieve and click Copy if you want to save it to some directory of your own, or Restore if you want to replace existing, encrypted file. If you want to see the content of file first, just click Open.

b) Shadow Explorer It is a program that can be found online for free. You can download either a full or a portable version of Shadow Explorer. Open the program. On the left top corner select the drive where the file you are looking for is a stored. You will see all folders on that drive. To retrieve a whole folder, right-click on it and select “Export”. Then choose where you want it to be stored.

Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover Mionoho Ransomware encrypted files

There are several data recovery programs that might recover encrypted files as well. This does not work in all cases but you can try this:

• We suggest using another PC and connect the infected hard drive as slave. It is still possible to do this on infected PC though.
• Download a data recovery program.
• Install and scan for recently deleted files.

Note: In many cases it is impossible to restore data files affected by modern ransomware. Thus I recommend using decent cloud backup software as precaution. We recommend checking out Carbonite, BackBlaze, CrashPlan or Mozy Home.