yG [email protected] Ransomware - How to remove

yG ([email protected]) is a cryptovirus. If your files do not open anymore, and if you found a message from online extortionists — someone using the [email protected] email address — your computer has probably been infected by the yG ([email protected]) virus. The goal of yG is to get you to send money to the cybercriminals. The effect of yG is broken, locked, unopenable files on your computer.

yG a new member of Dharma/CrySiS family. yG is an iteration of the older Dharma versions, created because it is easier, faster, and cheaper for the cybercriminals to modify the existing and working program than it is to create a brand new virus. New Dharma iterations are released often enough, probably because Dharma ransomware is a lucrative enough business for the criminals.

How does yG infect computers?

These can either be attachments, or download links. The virus usually needs you to help run it. To accomplish this, social engineering is used. yG ([email protected]) ransomware is most likely distributed by spam emails.

• Macro viruses in documents. Some documents have malicious macros. These will ask you to enable macros by, for example, saying that macros are needed to display their content.
• Disguised executables. Some files that are executables are disguised as some harmless file, for example, the FunnyPicture.jpg.exe Trojan.
• Software bundles. Rather than normal freeware bundles where promoted software invites itself to your computer, the more malicious ones are crafted to allow viruses to be executed in the background while some harmless, trustworthy program is taking up all of your attention.

It’s important to have a reputable antivirus program installed and to keep it up-to-date. Antivirus programs do detect yG as malicious, so, if you haven’t been doing it, make sure to scan downloaded files before running or opening them, even if they seem innocent. It’s not certain that a virus will be caught, but it is still a good habit to have.

After being run, yG ([email protected]) then encrypts the files. Pictures, films, songs — media files like mp3, mkv, flac, avi, jpg, png and tons of other file types are affected. Documents, too, like text files, spreadsheets — pdf, doc, xls, txt, and others. Ransomware viruses try to cause the most harm while also leaving the operating system intact, which is why they target file types that are likely to have been created by a user.

Symptoms of yG ([email protected]) infection

After the files have been encrypted, a very short ransom note named “RETURN FILES.txt” is created.

All your data is encrypted!
for return write to mail:
[email protected]

And a pop-up window is displayed. It starts like this:

All FILES ENCRYPTED “RSA1024”
All YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED!!! IF YOU WANT TO RESTORE THEM, WRITE US TO THE E-MAIL [email protected]
IN THE LETTER WRITE YOUR ID, YOUR ID
IF YOU ARE NOT ANSWERED, WRITE TO EMAIL:[email protected]
YOUR SECRET KEY WILL BE STORED ON A SERVER 7 DAYS, AFTER 7 DAYS IT MAY BE OVERWRITTEN BY OTHER KEYS, DON’T PULL TIME, WAITING YOUR EMAIL
…

The note and the pop-up window are almost the same as the other Dharma variants, like Dharma-Btc and NWA.

[email protected] is the extortionists’ email address, .yG is the extension appended to the names of the encrypted files. So a file locked by yG would be renamed from, for example,

image.jpg

to

image.jpg.[random characters].[[email protected]].yG

Can yG files be unlocked?

The decryption key are not practical to try to guess. RSA-1024 is very difficult to crack and the decryptor for Dharma doesn’t work for the new versions. This means that the only remaining way to decrypt files locked by yG ([email protected]) is by getting the decryption keys from the yG developers.

If you have a backup of your files, the encryption should not be a big problem. Besides, at last some files might have been saved somewhere else, so maybe it’s still possible to get them. The cloud? Maybe you emailed them to someone? It’s important to not have your backup stored on the same disk that is being backed up, otherwise, it’s as vulnerable as the files.

It’s never recommended to pay the ransom to fix the locked files. But if you decide to pay it, be aware of the cost and the risks:

• The files might not be restored (because the extortionists are criminals and there is nothing forcing them to keep their promises).
• The decryption is expensive (usually ransom for an individual is at least a few hundred dollars).
• You might be remembered and targeted again in the future.
• There are other options to try to get your files back, such as restoring deleted files with a data recovery program.

How to remove yG ransomware

To restore the files, you might first want to make sure that there is no malware installed. Scan your computer with Spyhunter, or another antivirus that you trust.

Then you can either restore the files from a backup, or try to restore the system. Unfortunately, yG probably deleted the restore files, but if your backup was on a separate device, it should be fine. Once you know that there is no malware left on your computer, it’s safe to restore your files from the backups and resume using your computer normally and with awareness of the danger of spam email and social engineering.

How to recover yG [email protected] 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 yG [email protected] Ransomware has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of yG [email protected] 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 yG [email protected] Ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore yG [email protected] 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 yG [email protected] 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 yG [email protected] 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.