MMM Ransomware - How to remove

MMM Ransomware is yet another tremendously dangerous ransomware infection using AES cryptography, the same as notorious Keep Calm ransomware. On 26th of June cyber security researchers from the TripWire announced that they have discovered https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/security-data-protection/cyber-security/june-2017-the-month-in-ransomware/. Now, a couple of months later, it seems like this ransomware project is done and Actively infecting computers and requiring for a ransom.

It was first discovered by a malware researcher Michael Gillespie on announced on twitter. There are a lot of ransomware infections on the market, but this one is special due to the size of ransom – it’s 1.2 Bitcoins and at the current exchange rate it’s equal to around $5000. Besides that, AES encryption cryptography is not the only one used by MMM Ransomware – it also can encrypt your files with RSA and HMAC cryptographies and this feature makes it extremely difficult to decrypt.

If you were unlucky enough and this infection is infiltrated on your personal computer, it will take over all of the most important files and add .0x009d8a extension to every single of them. This way they will be encrypted using a stron cryptography and you will no longer be able to access them. In addition to that, .info file will be created for each encrypted file. Lastly, MMM ransomware will create a HTML file with ransom note in it. It is nammed “RESTORE_0x009d8a_FILES.html” and will be placed in evey folder on infected computer. Original text of the ransom note:

YOUR UNIQ IDENTIFICATOR: QRM2TR67ZG
What happend with my files? All your databases corrupted .All your files has been locked ( encrypted) with Ransomware For encrypting we using strong cryptographic algorithm AES256+RSA-2048 .Do not attempt to recover the files yourself . You might corrupt your files. We also rewrite all old blocks on HDD and you don`t recover your files with Recuva and other…
YOU HAVE ONLY 6 DAYS FOR BUY YOUR DECRYPTION TOOL It is not advised to use third party tools to decrypt,if we find them you ,you will forever lose your files. How i can restore my files? Go to BTC exchange services and buy 1,2 Bitcoin 3) Send it to address 151F8ufANwCohXzteZ2mauvHLvkS8WmEFT and write us email to address [email protected] for giving your key and decryption tool. In subject write your Unique ID BTC Guide: Top BTC exchange sites: LocalBitcoins (We recomend), Coinbase, BTC-E,
Online wallets: BlockchainInfo, Block.io

 

Unfortunately it is really difficult to decrypt files encrypted by this ransomware and every single infected computer gets unique decryption key which is stored on a remote server. If you were to believe cyber criminals, this decryption key should be sent to you after you pay the ransom. However, we do not recommend to do that because a lot of times this scenario fails because cyber criminals tend to ignore victims after the ransom is paid. Even more bad news – if you don’t have a valid backup, your files are probably gone for good, unless cyber security experts comes up with a working decryptor.

Regardless the fact that your files are locked now, you should still eliminate the virus if you are going to use your computer in the future. It can be easily done with some help of anti-malware software, such as Spyhunter. Simply scan your computer with one of them and the virus will be erased automatically.

If you have a legitimate back-up of your hard drive, you can restore you files from it. Constant back-ups is a number one solution defending against malware like this.

How to recover MMM 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 MMM Ransomware has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of MMM 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 MMM Ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore MMM 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 MMM 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 MMM 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.

Manual removal