BGTX ransomware - How to remove

BGTX infection is extremely dangerous – if you have it on your computer, the majority of your personal files will be damaged and you won’t be able to use it anymore. It can’t cause damage to your operating system, so you will be able to continue using the system itself. However, since most of your personal files will be locked, you will have a lot of problems.

Basically, there are two paths you can go in a situation like this – you can say goodbye to your files and reinstall the operating system, thus automatically removing the virus. Unfortunately, you would lose your personal files this way. Or, you can remove the virus from the system, but this won’t unlock your files. To do that, you need a special key that is kept on a remote server owned by cyber criminals that developed BGTX ransomware. In order to access the key, you will be asked to pay a ransom, but we do not recommend to do that.

There are some alternative methods that can be applied to solve this situation. They are not effective in every single situation, but it’s definitely worth to give it a try – you won’t spend a lot of money and you might retrieve all of your files that have been locked.

In this article, we will try to explain how to restore files that have been encrypted by BGTX ransomware and how to remove the virus itself.  If you have any questions regarding this infection or the removal process, you can always ask them in the comments section below and we will do our best to provide answers.

The Way BGTX Virus Infects Computers

BGTX ransomware is distributed via email spam campaigns – it’s the most popular way to distribute ransomware. Malicious files of BGTX are zipped in a folder that is attached to the spam email. So all it takes to get infected with such a virus – download and extract those files.

If you do that, there is no way back and automatic infections process starts. Unless you have an active anti-malware program running in the background. If you do, it can detect that something is attempting to make unauthorized changes to your personal files and stop it. That’s why you should keep a program like Malware Fighter installed on your system all the time.

Another possible way to get infected with BGTX is to have malware on your system that can infiltrate this infection. Various browser hijackers and adware can infiltrate more dangerous files like this one into your system, therefore they need to be removed from your computer as well. Also, some excessive advertisements on unreliable websites might be promoting those malware infections, so you should try to never visit websites that look questionable. It would be a good idea to install some kind of ’ad-blocking on your web browser, it will save not only a lot of your time but also might protect you from various threats.

How BGTX Ransomware Encrypts Files

The encryption process of BGTX ransomware is pretty common, very similar to other ransomware viruses from Dharma family, such as Dharma ransomware, Bkp virus or Pottieq Ransomware. First of all, it will run a scan on your hard drive and detect all files that can be potentially encrypted. After that, they use a strong cryptography to change the data structure of your files.

This is encryption and even though your files can’t be used after that, they are not damaged for good – this process can be reversed. Unfortunately, in order to reverse the process (decrypt), you need to get an access to the unique decryption key that was automatically generated and stored on a remote server.

In order to get that key, you will be asked to pay a ransom – this is how cyber criminals behind this ransomware are making money. They provide you with instructions on how to do that on a pop-up window that will be automatically opened on your desktop after the encryption. Original copy of the message:

ll your files have been encrypted!
All your files have been encrypted due to a security problem with your PC. If you want to restore them, write us to the e-mail [email protected]
Write this ID in the title of your message 1E857D00
In case of no answer in 24 hours write us to theese e-mails:[email protected]
You have to pay for decryption in Bitcoins. The price depends on how fast you write to us. After payment we will send you the decryption tool that will decrypt all your files.
Free decryption as guarantee
Before paying you can send us up to 1 file for free decryption. The total size of files must be less than 1Mb (non archived), and files should not contain valuable information. (databases,backups, large excel sheets, etc.)
How to obtain Bitcoins
The easiest way to buy bitcoins is LocalBitcoins site. You have to register, click ‘Buy bitcoins’, and select the seller by payment method and price.
hxxps://localbitcoins.com/buy_bitcoins
Also you can find other places to buy Bitcoins and beginners guide here:
hxxp://www.coindesk.com/information/how-can-i-buy-bitcoins/
Attention!
Do not rename encrypted files.
Do not try to decrypt your data using third party software, it may cause permanent data loss.
Decryption of your files with the help of third parties may cause increased price (they add their fee to our) or you can become a victim of a scam.

As usually, cyber crooks want you to contact them via email. They suggest to write them at [email protected] and send a couple of encrypted files that they would decrypt and send them back to you. They will also inform you about the amount of the ransom, which is not known at the moment.

We always encourage our users not to contact cyber criminals because that is dangerous as well. Also, paying a ransom is not a good idea, even if it is not that big. Instead of that, we recommend removing BGTX virus with anti-malware software and using alternative methods to get your files back.

Removal Of BGTX Virus

As we have already mentioned, you will need a decent anti-malware application to effectively eliminate BGTX ransomware. We suggest to use Spyhunter for this task – simply scan your computer with one of those tools and it should detect and remove all files related to BGTX in just a several of minutes.

Please note that this won’t decrypt your files – they will remain locked. However, you must remove the virus first, because if you decrypt your files and just leave the virus operating on a computer, it might encrypt them once again.

Decrypting files locked by BGTX is difficult. They use the unique extension – .id-[victim’s_ID].[[email protected]].bgtx that is added to the end of every encrypted file. It might be that decryption keys will be published by cyber security researchers, later on, but at the moment they are not available. That means you have other options left – encrypted files can be restored from the backup by following this system restore guide. However, you have to have a backup in order to be able to do this.

If you do not have a backup, you can try to use the ’free from the Internet. Those tools are effective at restoring damaged and locked files, so this actually might work.

Automatic Malware removal tools

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore BGTX 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 BGTX 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 BGTX 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.