They will point out that all critical data contained in the computer system, including documents, pictures, vital data, personal details etc. have all been made unusable and considering the fact that very strong encryption algorithm was used, the victim has no other alternative they can leverage to reverse the process except by paying ransom t them. For communication purposes, they will also include two email addresses, namely: support@sysmail.ch and helpsupportmanager@airmail.cc. The cybercriminals will also mention how much the so-called decryption service is going to cost as well as the terms of payment. In order to pressurize the victim into paying immediately, they will give a condition that the victim will earn a 50% ransom fee price slash if they can pay within 72 hours/3 days, in essence, they would have to pay $490 instead of the initial asking fee of $980. However, they would threaten that once 3 days elapses, only the full amount will be acceptable. If the victim decides to get in touch with them, they will inform him that payment can’t be made with liquid cash or bank transfer, rather only cryptocurrency will be accepted. So, they will provide a wallet address where the victim would be expected to transfer the cryptocurrency equivalence of the ransom fee. They make use of this medium in order to hide their identity and prevent possible detection and arrest by law enforcement agents. They may equally suggest for excerpts of the encrypted file to be sent to them for test decryption, as a way of assuring the victim of their expertise. Just like the FBI’s guidelines as regards to ransom payment, our company’s cybersecurity experts equally advise victims of ransomware not to comply with the demands made by cybercriminals. Therefore, DO NOT PAY RANSOM REGARDLESS OF THE PRESSURE! Always have it in mind that there is no guarantee of recovering your lost data even after paying ransom. Also, when victims pay ransom to cybercriminals, they’re helping them to grow their capacity, employ more hands, and make profits. However, if everyone refuses to pay the ransom, they will have no incentive to continue in their criminal activities. Worse still, the virus is also known to drop to Trojans like AZORULT and VIDAR that are infamous for stealing information from an already infected host. They can covertly steal vital personal information such as banking details, software credentials/account login details, browsing history, cryptocurrency details and passwords etc. Such sensitive details in the hands of cybercriminals can lead to further blackmail and theft. Individuals whose computers were compromised with STOP/DJVU ransomware should endeavor to remove VFGJ ransomware virus without delay. You can get rid of it with the use of any strong and reliable antivirus software while setting up your computer in the Safe Mode with Networking option. However, you should ensure that the antivirus software you’re using is genuine.

Ransomware Summary

REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE

Ransomware distribution techniques used by cybercriminals

There are various ways by which computer systems can get infected with variants of ransomware, including VFGJ virus, but one of the most common is through downloading malicious torrents. The rogues that create such malware often hide them in fake key generators, “cracks,” and similar pirated software copies. Once unsuspecting users download them in their computers, they unknowingly trigger a ransomware attack. Information gathered over the years has shown that certain software copies are often used by cybercriminals who upload them to diverse online torrent libraries. Some of the most popular ones are listed below:

Adobe Photoshop;VMware Workstation;Tenorshare 4ukey;Cubase;Opera browser;Corel Draw;Fifa 20;AutoCad;Adobe Illustrator;League of Legends;Internet Download Manager;KMSPico (illegal Windows activation tool).

For those that have a tendency of visiting online torrents libraries to acquire software illegitimately, now is the time to put a stop to such dangerous and illegal activity. Do not give cybercriminals the chance to prey on you and extort huge sums of money from you while you also stand to lose potentially important data. In addition to the above-mentioned risks, downloading of copyrighted software products without the permission of the content owners or paying the requisite fee is tantamount to stealing and is subject to prosecution in the court of law. Instead, computer users should always visit the official pages or their endorsed third-party agent sites and pay the cost of the software copies they need. The token you pay will always be little compared to the huge amount cybercriminals will demand from you when you eventually become their victim. Another popular way they distribute ransomware is through malicious email attachments. Cybercriminals often create fake but believable messages alongside attachments created on platforms like XLS, DOCX or PDF. They make use of these particular platforms simply because macro functions and JavaScript can be applied on them, thus making it possible for payloads to be attached to them. Nevertheless, victims of STOP/DJVU ransomware should not think they can afford to be careless while believing that the worst has been done already. Avoid any website that claim to have decryption solutions because such rarely exist. Most of them are dubious and their intention is to distribute other variants of ransomware disguised as STOP/DJVU decryptors. The end result could be double-file encryption of your files and theft of sensitive data.

More details concerning the infection

If you’re at a loss about the extent of damage that may have occurred to your computer due to VFGJ ransomware attack, then this section will come in handy. The first thing the malware does following the infection is to establish build.exe or maybe build2.exe executables while also setting up winupdate.exe. Note that winupdate.exe is responsible for the display of a dummy Windows update screen. The virus then makes a connection with https[:]//api.2ip.ua/geo.json while saving the result in geo.json file. The malware then begins information gathering of every detail concerning your computer such as its geolocation, zip code, time zone, latitude, longitude and sends them to their database. Shown in the image below is how a typical geo.json file appears. The virus also gathers computer name, operating system as well as hardware and software details and list of active processes into information.txt file and transfers them to C&C server as well. You can see a screenshot of this file down below. There are a group of countries, particularly in the former USSR and Middle East, the cybercriminals exempted from their encryption campaign, they’re namely; Russia, Tajikistan, Syria, Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Kazachstan, and Kyrgyzstan. With the geolocation of the computer, they will determine if it is located in any of these countries. If yes, they will abort operation immediately, but if otherwise, they will move to the next stage where it extracts the online encryption key from their database, merges it with the victim’s ID before saving them in the bowsakkdestx.txt file and also in the PersonalID.txt file. Screenshots of these files are presented below. In situations where the virus couldn’t extract any online encryption ID, it will opt for the use of an offline ID. The striking difference is that online ID is peculiarly created for each victim, while an offline ID is common to all victims of that particular variant. You can detect if an offline key was used if it t1 characters appear at the end of the personal ID. If that is the case, you can possibly decrypt .vfgj files going forward. More information about this is provided below or in this guide. The ransomware now begins to scan every folder while also encrypting the files using Salsa20 before locking the encryption key using the RSA-2048 key. Here is a screenshot of the _readme.txt ransom note that would be left in all the folders. The virus will, at this point, delete Volume Shadow Copies using Command Prompt task as shown here: vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet As it concludes, a list of domains will be added to the Windows HOSTS File before tagging them to the local host IP. Once this is complete, the victim will be prevented from having access to any of those blacklisted websites. Any attempt will only bring up the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error message. Their aim is to preempt any possible attempt by the victim to seek help online.

Remove VFGJ Ransomware Virus and Recover Your Lost Files

The two most important moves to make following any malware attack is to remove VFGJ ransomware as quickly as possible and, secondly, to inform the local regulatory agency mandated to handle such issues. Please go through the steps outlined below for a more detailed approach.

Remove VFGJ ransomware virus as quickly as possible.Determine the nearest law enforcement agency mandated to handle such issues and report to them right away.Make use of your backup device to restore your lost data.Search for tutorials to learn possible ways to repair/decrypt files damaged by STOP/DJVU variants.Replace all your passwords that were used on the compromised computer.

Victims of STOP/DJVU ransomware must have learned their lessons the hard way, but just like non-victims, it is important for everyone to always be on guard because it can happen to anyone. OUR GEEKS RECOMMEND Our team recommends a two-step rescue plan to remove ransomware and other remaining malware from your computer, plus repair caused virus damage to the system: GeeksAdvice.com editors select recommended products based on their effectiveness. We may earn a commission from affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. Learn more. Get INTEGO ANTIVIRUS for Windows to remove ransomware, Trojans, adware and other spyware and malware variants and protect your PC and network drives 24/7. This VB100-certified security software uses state-of-art technology to provide protection against ransomware, Zero-Day attacks and advanced threats, Intego Web Shield blocks dangerous websites, phishing attacks, malicious downloads and installation of potentially unwanted programs. Use INTEGO Antivirus to remove detected threats from your computer. Read full review here. RESTORO provides a free scan that helps to identify hardware, security and stability issues and presents a comprehensive report which can help you to locate and fix detected issues manually. It is a great PC repair software to use after you remove malware with professional antivirus. The full version of software will fix detected issues and repair virus damage caused to your Windows OS files automatically. RESTORO uses AVIRA scanning engine to detect existing spyware and malware. If any are found, the software will eliminate them. Read full review here.

Method 1. Enter Safe Mode with Networking

Before you try to remove VFGJ Ransomware Virus virus, you must start your computer in Safe Mode with Networking. Below, we provide the easiest ways to boot PC in the said mode, but you can find additional ones in this in-depth tutorial on our website – How to Start Windows in Safe Mode. Also, if you prefer a video version of the tutorial, check our guide How to Start Windows in Safe Mode on Youtube. Instructions for Windows XP/Vista/7 users Instructions for Windows 8/8.1/10/11 users Now, you can search for and remove VFGJ Ransomware Virus files. It is very hard to identify files and registry keys that belong to the ransomware virus, Besides, malware creators tend to rename and change them repeatedly. Therefore, the easiest way to uninstall such type of a computer virus is to use a reliable security program such as INTEGO Antivirus. For virus damage repair, consider using RESTORO.

Method 2. Use System Restore

In order to use System Restore, you must have a system restore point, created either manually or automatically. Instructions for Windows XP/Vista/7 users Instructions for Windows 8/8.1/10/11 users After restoring the system, we recommend scanning the system with antivirus or anti-malware software. In most cases, there won’t be any malware remains, but it never hurts to double-check. In addition, we highly recommend checking ransomware prevention guidelines provided by our experts in order to protect your PC against similar viruses in the future.

Alternative software recommendations

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Removing spyware and malware is one step towards cybersecurity. To protect yourself against ever-evolving threats, we strongly recommend purchasing a Premium version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, which provides security based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Includes ransomware protection. See pricing options and protect yourself now.

System Mechanic Ultimate Defense If you’re looking for an all-in-one system maintenance suite that has 7 core components providing powerful real-time protection, on-demand malware removal, system optimization, data recovery, password manager, online privacy protection and secure driver wiping technology. Therefore, due to its wide-range of capabilities, System Mechanic Ultimate Defense deserves Geek’s Advice approval. Get it now for 50% off. You may also be interested in its full review.

Disclaimer. This site includes affiliate links. We may earn a small commission by recommending certain products, at no additional cost for you. We only choose quality software and services to recommend.

Decrypt VFGJ files

Fix and open large VFGJ files easily:

It is reported that STOP/DJVU ransomware versions encrypt only the beginning 150 KB of each file to ensure that the virus manages to affect all files on the system. In some cases, the malicious program might skip some files at all. That said, we recommend testing this method on several big (>1GB) files first.

STOP/DJVU decryption tool usage guide

STOP/DJVU ransomware versions are grouped into old and new variants. VFGJ Ransomware Virus is considered the new STOP/DJVU variant, just like BPTO, ISWR, ISZA, BPSM, ZOUU, MBTF, ZNSM (find full list here). This means full data decryption is now possible only if you have been affected by offline encryption key. To decrypt your files, you will have to download Emsisoft Decryptor for STOP DJVU, a tool created and maintained by a genius security researcher Michael Gillespie. Note! Please do not spam the security researcher with questions whether he can recover your files encrypted with online key - it is not possible. In order to test the tool and see if it can decrypt VFGJ files, follow the given tutorial.

Meanings of decryptor’s messages

The VFGJ decryption tool might display several different messages after failed attempt to restore your files. You might receive one of the following messages: Error: Unable to decrypt file with ID: [example ID] This message typically means that there is no corresponding decryption key in the decryptor’s database. No key for New Variant online ID: [example ID]Notice: this ID appears to be an online ID, decryption is impossible This message informs that your files were encrypted with online key, meaning no one else has the same encryption/decryption key pair, therefore data recovery without paying the criminals is impossible. Result: No key for new variant offline ID: [example ID]This ID appears to be an offline ID. Decryption may be possible in the future. If you were informed that an offline key was used, but files could not be restored, it means that the offline decryption key isn’t available yet. However, receiving this message is extremely good news, meaning that it might be possible to restore your VFGJ extension files in the future. It can take a few months until the decryption key gets found and uploaded to the decryptor. We recommend you to follow updates regarding the decryptable DJVU versions here. We strongly recommend backing up your encrypted data and waiting.

Victims of VFGJ Ransomware Virus should report the Internet crime incident to the official government fraud and scam website according to their country:

In the United States, go to the On Guard Online website.In Australia, go to the SCAMwatch website.In Germany, go to the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik website.In Ireland, go to the An Garda Síochána website.In New Zealand, go to the Consumer Affairs Scams website.In the United Kingdom, go to the Action Fraud website.In Canada, go to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.In India, go to Indian National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.In France, go to the Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information.

If you can’t find an authority corresponding to your location on this list, we recommend using any search engine to look up “[your country name] report cyber crime”. This should lead you to the right authority website. We also recommend staying away from third-party crime report services that are often paid. It costs nothing to report Internet crime to official authorities. Another recommendation is to contact your country’s or region’s federal police or communications authority.