CoinVault - How to remove

CoinVault is a dangerous ransomware that seeks to swindle money from users with infected computers. Once inside of a computer of victim, CoinVault will encrypt certain files. Usually it is .docx, .ppt, .txt, .crt, .jpeg, .gif, and .mp3 files. Immediately afterwards, a message about encrypted files will appear on the screen:

Your personal documents and files on this computer or device have just been encrypted. Encrypted means you will not be able to access your files anymore, until they are decrypted. Your original files have been detailed, 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 key (using AES-128). The only way to decrypt your files, is to obtain your private key and IV.

The private key, which will allow you to decrypt and get your original files back, is stored on our server. Each time the timer hits zero, the total costs will raise with the starting price.

To receive your private key, you need to pay the amount of bitcoin displayed left of this window (costs). You need to send the amount of bitcoins to the bticoin 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 decrypt one file for free, using the “One free decrypt” button.

You can easily delete this software, but know that without it, you will never be able to get your original files back.

For more information on how to buy and send bitcoin, click “Next page”.

As you can see, you will be asked to pay a certain amount of money in order to retrieve your files. At first, the stake is set to 0.7 bitcoins. It is equal to 207.47 euros. And when the time goes by this amount will increase consistently. It’s yet another trick to get users scared and force them to pay the ransom immediately. However, there are no guarantees that after the ransom is paid, your files will be decrypted. Now it’s up to you if you want to take this risk or not. Unfortunately, there is no known way to decrypt those files, so if you don’t have a backup, they might be lost for ever.

If you decide to pay the ransom, you will need to do it using bitcoin payment system. It gets a little bit more difficult for users, but protects hackers, because it’s very difficult to track them through this system.

Here is a full list of file types that can be encrypted by CoinVault:

.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, .zip, .rar, .mp4, .iso

You should remove CoinVault from your computer, after the imaging of the encrypted files, because it can infiltrate various infections to your system. You should not do this manually (be it the case, the instructions are provided below), because it can be really complicated. For this task, we recommend you to download a trustworthy anti-malware, such as Spyhunter, StopZilla or Malwarebytes. Scan your computer with it and all unwanted applications will be instantly removed. It will also protect your computer from ransomware like CoinVault in the future.

To retrieve access to your data use this link. It is the download link to the CoinVault decryptor.

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

 

Step 2. Complete removal of CoinVault

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 CoinVault. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore CoinVault 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 CoinVault 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 CoinVault 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.