ViroBotnet Ransomware - How to remove

Last week on September 15th, 2018 MalwareHunterTeam shared on their Twitter about another malware variant attacking French-speaking users called ViroBotnet ransomware or Viro Botnet for short. Although Viro Botnet cryptovirus was able to demonstrate all the ransomware features, the spreading method was noticed to be unfinished and still in development. Actually, the used Outlook email distribution technique is the characteristic that makes Viro Botnet ransomware differ from other crypto demanding viruses.

Virobotnet Ransomware quicklinks

• What does Viro Botnet virus do
• How is Viro Botnet ransomware distributed
• How to get rid of Viro Botnet virus fast and decrypt locked files
• Automatic Malware removal tools
• How to delete ViroBotnet ransomware without an antivirus
• How to recover ViroBotnet 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:
• 2.Restore System files and settings.
• Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover ViroBotnet Ransomware encrypted files

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Overall Viro Botnet virus is capable of detecting all the user’s files and after encryption marking them with .enc extension, later asking for 500 EUR (582,48 USD) ransom in BTC (0,090). No matter that the spreading is not fully functioning properly, Viro Botnet virus is dangerous and can harm your system, moreover lock all the precious files. In this article, we will explain a little bit more about Viro Botnet ransomware, how it really works, distributes and how to avoid and remove it, so, please, keep on reading.

Once Viro Botnet ransomware gets into the system, it goes straight to antivirus to stop it and to registry keys to modify them for the persistence. Right after that, it goes on looking for files like pictures, videos, music, documents and encrypts them using AES cipher. This takes only a couple seconds and all the, not the system files are locked and marked with .enc. After the successful installations, Viro Botnet virus drops a short  README.txt note and locks the screen with another information sheet. For more technical info read (VirusTotal.com).

README.txt note:

Vos fichiers personnels ont été chiffrés. Lisez les instructions du logiciel. (Your personal files are encrypted. Read the instructions for the program.)

Locked screen:

Vos fichiers personnels ont été chiffré. Pour les déchiffrer, envoyez 500€ de bitcoins à cette adresse: 1BoatSLRHtKNngkdXEeobR76b53LETtpyT
Toute tentative de destruction de ce logiciel entraînera la destruction de la clé de déchiffrement.
Toute tentative de déchiffrement avec une clé erronée entraînera la perte définitive de vos fichiers.
Vous avez 72 heures pour effectuer le paiement. Après quoi, la clé de déchiffrement sera supprimée.
Clé de déchiffrement :
Déchiffrer mes fichiers

(Your personal files were encrypted. For their decipherment came bitkoins for 500 € to this address:1BoatSLRHtKNngkdXEeobR76b53LETtpyT
Any attempt to destroy this program will destroy the decryption key.
Any attempt to decrypt with the wrong key will damage your files.
You have 72 hours to pay. After that, the decryption key will be deleted.
The decryption key:
Decrypt my files)

No matter what the ransom notes or blocked screens say, Never pay the ransom, because Viro Botnet infection is supposed to scare you to do so, but that does not mean that all that’s written there is true. On the contrary, according to statistics, you will only lose money and not get anything back. Better take a look at our ‘Protection against ransomware‘ guide, to prevent future infections and keep reading the article to find the solutions that do not cost 500 dollars.

How is Viro Botnet ransomware distributed

Unlike the typical ransomware virus, Viro Botnet infection is distributed not just by sending tons of socially engineered emails, but actually by using victim’s Outlook to send itself as OfficeUpdater.exe in emails, sometimes not even as an attachment but a code to all the contacts that were logged in the compromised user’s email account. Fortunately, this distribution feature did not work completely, or else it would make so much damage, especially if it would reach companies that are dealing with important clients and other institutions and etc.

How to get rid of Viro Botnet virus fast and decrypt locked files

The most efficient way to solve the Viro Botnet ransomware infection is to trust your issue to the anti-malware program. There are many kinds to choose from, which you can see in our Reviews Page, but we suggest either Spyhunter, because of their large databases and sophisticated termination abilities. These anti-spyware tools are imperative when dealing with Viro Botnet virus or other malware because all the user has to do is to scan the system and select which detected threats he wants to remove and the security tool will do everything technically challenging. After such automatic removal, you can be sure that your Windows is clean and you can move on to file recovery.

Right now, to decrypt .enc Viro Botnet ransomware files you will have to try by using Shadow Copies and files restore programs because the official decryptor is not yet available. You may not succeed at it because Viro Botnet virus could’ve deleted all the backups and Volume Snapshots of your files, but do not worry and rush to pay the hackers, but simply store the encrypted files and wait a bit until cybersecurity specialists will catch up with crooks and release a New decryptor.

How to delete ViroBotnet ransomware without an antivirus

Manual removal not using any security tool might be challenging in many aspects. The best way to get rid of the Viro Botnet virus yourself fully is to restore the compromised system from the backups, as we show in our demonstration below, yet if you are not making them religiously then you will have to sacrifice your files, which could potentially be decrypted. However, System Restore can help you clean the PC fully from viruses and from all your files. If you do not have any external backups we advise to use the anti-spyware tool.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore ViroBotnet 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 ViroBotnet 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 ViroBotnet 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.