Sarut Ransomware - How to remove

Sarut is a new ransomware virus that is infecting people’s files and demanding a ransom. There are many similar infections and, if this virus left you a ransom note that looks anything like this one, you can tell that Sarut is a new member of the DJVU family of cryptoviruses. These malicious programs try to make money for their developers by locking people’s files — some of which might be very important — and asking for hundreds of dollars for restoring them. That’s the definition of extortion.

Sarut — what it looks like

You know that your computer has been infected by Sarut if you find files with the “.sarut” suffix on your computer and they have replaced the original files. You also should find a ransom note from the people who are spreading the virus. The Sarut developers tell you that you need to contact them and pay the ransom — $980 (or $490 if you contact them within 72 hours of the infection). They also promise to decrypt a single file to prove that they can. This is done because there have been cybercriminals who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) restore the files after the ransom was paid. A certain level of ability is needed to be able to decrypt files that have been scrambled by the algorithm, after all.

The file type of the encrypted files: .sarut.

[old file name].[old file type].sarut

The name of the ransom note: _readme.txt.

It starts with “Don’t worry my friend, you can return all your files!” (and is similar to the DJVU ransom message).

The contacts of the developers of Sarut (something that you shouldn’t do): [email protected], [email protected], @datarestore (telegram).

How much harm can ransomware do?

A ransomware infection can lock your files irreversibly. The information needed to quickly decrypt the files is stored with the developers of the virus (provided they’re competent enough and actually have a way to decrypt the files). If they delete it, there might be no practical way to unlock your files. Even if you paid the ransom quickly, the Sarut developers might still ignore you, and you would have lost the money. So you can’t rely on free decryption entirely.

There is a free decryptor called STOPDecrypter (here’s a direct download link) for ransomware of the DJVU family, but for now, it only works on the files that were encrypted using the offline key, and even that support needs to be added for every new DJVU ransomware that comes out (Sarut is still new and not specifically supported at the time of writing). Considering that the developer of STOPDecrypter is a volunteer, he doesn’t have the time or resources to help everyone quickly. If it doesn’t restore your files now, save the encrypted files together with the ransom note so that you can try STOPDecrypter on them later.

A much more reliable way of protecting yourself against Sarut and other ransomware is to have prepared by making backups of your files and storing them separately from your computer. It is not complicated to create some type of your system’s backup, and it will save you a lot of grief is anything happens to your files later. Even if you don’t have the files backed up, though, it’s possible to find and restore at least some of them — maybe you have emailed them to someone or saved them in the cloud.

How does Sarut infect computers?

Sarut often infects computers thanks to people’s carelessness and lack of knowledge of the strategies that malware distributors use. For example, social engineering is often used to manipulate people to invite malware on their computers.

If a random file comes with an email, it is rather suspicious, isn’t it? Or if a random popup warning on your browser tells you that you need to install a program. But these are real ways that malware infects people’s computers.

In the case of malicious emails, the infected file is disguised as something trustworthy, for example, a text document or a PDF file. The email tells you that it’s an urgent matter, maybe an invoice or a bill. Hoping to find out what this is about, you open the file only to find that it has nothing relevant inside — but by now it could be too late and malware has already wormed its way into your PC. Fake security warnings use almost the same psychological tactics to make people scared of ignoring them.

Another way that ransomware might spread is through piracy. For example, a malicious program being distributed disguised as a videogame cheat tool, or a crack for proprietary software. Because antivirus applications will detect these files as suspicious anyway, you might not even bother to scan them, or you might ignore the warnings and not check the type of warning that is displayed.

How to remove Sarut ransomware

Scan your machine with an antivirus program, like Spyhunter. Ransomware viruses often delete themselves, but they also sometimes install other malware, such as spyware. The computer should be checked for them before using it for anything important.

If you find that you cannot access some websites, or that some links aren’t working, take a look at this guide to see if you can fix the problem.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Sarut 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 Sarut 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 Sarut 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.