How to remove CoinVault virus

CoinVault virus – malware that locks all personal files until a ransom is paid to its creators

CoinVault virus is a very serious cyber threat that is used for stealing people's money. Similarly to CryptoGraphic Locker virus, FBI virus and many other ransomware threats, it is capable of encrypting various files on victims' computers with a strong algorithm known as AES. It means that most of the data located on the targeted Windows computer is no longer accessible.

Once ransomware finishes with the file locking process, it delivers a pop-up window titled “CoinVault,” which briefly explains what happened and claims that users who want to regain their files need to acquire a private key only cybercriminals have access to. Of course, this “favor” is not for free – they are asking for 0.7 bitcoin (at the time of the writing, it is worth $207.47) ransom for the decryption tool.

Of course, you should never do this if you don't want to support scammers and their future crimes. By the way, this payment can hardly guarantee that you will get the ability to renew the connection to your files, as the following scenarios can happen:

• Decryption tool might not be delivered (even after payment)
• The decryptor might not work
• The decryptor might be malicious itself.

In order to avoid difficult situations like this one, you should always make backup copies of your important files.

Also, install a reputable anti-malware that will help you to stop the infiltration of this threat. If CoinVault virus manages to get inside its target PC system, it blocks these types files:

.odt, .ods, .odp, .odm, .odc, .odb, .doc, .docx, .docm, .wps, .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .xlk, .ppt, .pptx, .pptm, .mdb, .accdb, .pst, .dwg, .dxf, .dxg, .wpd, .rtf, .wb2, .mdf, .dbf, .psd, .pdd, .pdf, .eps, .ai, .indd, .cdr, .dng, .3fr, .arw, .srf, .sr2, .mp3, .bay, .crw, .cr2,.dcr, .kdc, .erf, .mef, .mrw, .nef, .nrw, .orf, .raf, .raw, .rwl, .rw2, .r3d, .ptx, .pef, .srw, .x3f, .lnk, .der, .cer, .crt, .pem, .pfx,.p12, .p7b, .p7c, .jpg, .png, .jfif, .jpeg, .gif, .bmp, .exif, .txt

Additionally, it can easily disconnect its victims from the Internet and block legitimate security software to prevent CoinVault removal. Other initiated changes can later cause Windows to crash, lag, or deliver errors. If that happens to you, we strongly recommend using FortectIntego to remediate the OS after the infection is terminated.

To sum up, if a computer gets infected with this ransomware, you can easily find out that it's just a useless machine that can be used for nothing. That's why it is very important to install reputable security software and update it once a week at least. In this case, we recommend using SpyHunterCombo Cleaner that has showed great results when dealing with viruses like this one.

Avoid malicious programs with these tips

Similar to many other cyber threats, the CoinVault virus can easily infiltrate computers without any sign. It is mostly spread with the help of fake notifications, spam, and similar techniques that have been discussed on our blog for ages. The most popular way, which is used for the distribution of the virus, relies on spam.

Please, stay away from all suspicious emails that report unknown payments and purchases because you can easily download infected email attachments to your computer. Once it enters the PC, it downloads the CoinVault virus to the system and modifies it according to virus needs.

Also, you should remember that you must stay away from all those notifications that report missing updates. If you were informed that you need to update the following, you should stay away from them:

• Flash Player
• Java
• FLV Player
• Google Chrome, etc.

If you have already downloaded such 'update' to your computer, you should waste no time scanning it with updated anti-spyware. You should do the same after discovering the CoinVault virus on your computer. Be sure that you won't miss that because it shows a huge black screen on the PC screen. It reads:

CoinVault
Your personal documents and files on this computer or device have just been encrypted. Encrypted mean you will not be able to access your files anymore, until they are decrypted. Your original files have been deleted, these can be recovered as described below. Click on “View encrypted files” to see a list of files that got encrypted.
The encryption was done with a unique generated encryption hey (using AES-128). The only way to decrypt your files, is to obtain your private key and IV.
To receive your private key, you need to pay the amount of bitcoins displayed left of this window (costs). You need to send the amount of bitcoins to the bitcoin address at the bottom of this window.
After the purchase is made, please wait a few minutes for confirmation of the bitcoins. After the bitcoins are confirmed, click the ‘check payment and receive keys’ button. Your keys will appear in the text boxes. After that, you simply click ‘decrypt using keys’, your files will be decrypted and restored to their original location.
You can easily delete this software, but know that without it, you will never be able to get your original files back.

Delete the CoinVault virus to prevent further data-locking activities

If you did not have backups available, it is unlikely that would can restore all of the locked files. However, instead of paying a ransom try to use the file recovery software such as Data Recovery Pro or similar. Additionally, we provide a few alternative methods to restore your files without paying criminals below.

If you need a detailed CoinVault removal guide, you can check it below – System Restore or Safe Mode with Networking might come in handy. We highly recommend thinking about the prevention of such infections. For that you can use previously mentioned programs. Besides, don't forget to think about the immunity of your files and backup. For that you can use USB external hard drives, CDs, DVDs, or simply rely on online backups, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Flickr and other solutions.