How to remove Ungluk ransomware virus

What is Ungluk ransomware planning on your computer?

Ungluk virus also known as Bitmessage ransomware is a malicious program that encrypts victims’ personal files and offers to buy them out for a considerable sum of money. Hackers target the most common file formats including media, Office documents or archives, and append .off, .0ff or similar extensions to each of them. This ensures that the victims are easier manipulated into paying the ransom. Besides, to gain bigger profit this virus targets companies with large computer networks; nevertheless, it always starts with an infection of a single device. For the system infiltration, the hackers employ malicious spamming campaigns which distribute the infected files as seemingly inconspicuous email attachments. Unfortunately, as such attachments are downloaded and opened, the computer becomes infected with the Ungluk ransomware which immediately starts running the system scan in search of files to encrypt. For this purpose, the virus uses strong encryption algorithm which can only be decrypted using the private key. This key is kept under close hacker supervision and is impossible to acquire any other way than by buying it. Nevertheless, it is probably the riskiest thing to do when infected with this type of infection. The criminals may not provide you with the decryption key at all, or they may send you some nonfunctional version of it, in both of the cases leaving your files encrypted. Ungluk removal, even if it does not help decrypt files, is a much safer option. When the malicious virus components are eliminated from the computer with the help of FortectIntego or other anti-malware, no further file encryption is possible, so you can create new files or try to recover the encrypted ones.

Ungluk malware is known to create two types of files on the infected computer FILESAREGONE.TXT and IHAVEYOURSECRET.KEY. Both of these documents are placed in every folder of the encrypted computer so that the user could easily access and view them. IHAVEYOURSECRET.KEY features a block of symbols which presumably represent the public key by which the files were initially encrypted. FILESAREGONE.TXT, on the other hand, includes a ransom note which goes as follows:

Hello.
All your files have been encrypted using our extremely strong private key. There is no way to recover them without our assistance. If you want to get your files back, you must be ready to pay for them. If you are broke and poor, sorry, we cannot help you. If you are ready to pay, then get in touch with us using a secure and anonymous p2p messenger. We have to use a messenger because standard emails get blocked quickly and if our email gets blocked your files will be lost forever.
Go to http://bitmessage.org/, download and run Bitmessage. Click Your Identities tab > then click New > then click OK (this will generate your personal address, you need to do this just once). Then click Send tab.
TO: xxxxxxxxxxxx
SUBJECT: name of your PC or your IP address or both.
MESSAGE: Hi, I am ready to pay.
Click Send button.
You are done.
To get the fastest reply from us with all further instructions, please keep your Bitmessage running on the computer at all times, if possible, or as often as you can, because Bitmessage is a bit slow and it takes time to send and get messages. If you cooperate and follow the instructions, you will get all your files back intact and very, very soon. Thank you.

The insistence of using Bitmessage for communication with the criminals only proves that these people are serious about their business and are not willing to get caught in the process of money extortion. The hackers purposefully refrain from indicating the amount of money that is demanded for the file encryption. This suggests that they adjust the ransom for each of the infected victims individually, taking into considerations the importance of the files and the amount of the infected devices (in the case of the computer network attack). Though it is not indicated in the ransom note, the virus adds extensions such as .0ff, .bleep, .1999, .H3LL, and .0x0 to the infected files, so if you are in doubt about what virus has infected your PC, pay attention to these unusual filename endings. When possible, remove Ungluk from the infected device using a sophisticated antivirus software.

How do you get infected with ransomware?

As we have already pointed out in the beginning of the article, Ungluk is a virus that spreads around as most of the other counterparts on the same category — through online spam. The malicious virus payload is carried around by emails imitating invoices, flight bookings, parcel delivery confirmations, etc. Nevertheless, it is also possible that Ungluk may be brought with the help of exploit kits, Trojans, and other viruses. Frankly speaking, the virus may be hiding behind any corner. Thus, trying to avoid the virus is not the best way to secure your files. If you are really concerned about your data, keep backups of your files and update them regularly.

How should you approach Ungluk removal and data recovery:

As you can probably tell, Ungluk virus is not a cyber infection that will pass by without leaving a trace. Most likely, it will corrupt your personal files and cause major trouble recovering them. However, if you complete Ungluk removal properly, you may have a chance of retrieving at least some of your files. To get started, obtain a reputable antivirus utility and start scanning the system. Once the scan is done, your computer should be safe to use. The system scan may not initiate due to the virus blocking your anti-malware utility. If you encounter such an obstacle, follow the instructions below to eliminate it and remove Ungluk for good.