Kodg Ransomware - How to remove

Kodg ransomware is a PC infection that locks files using encryption. Kodg spreads in torrent sites and is downloaded with pirated files and unknowingly run by the victims. Kodg then demands $490 to be sent to the criminals who are responsible for the ransomware, promising that the files that were broken by Kodg will be fixed after the ransom is paid.

Kodg ransomware infection symptoms

Kodg is ransomware – a virus that attacks the files in the system, including documents, text files, drawings, movies, songs, archives, databases, and almost everything else. The files that are affected by Kodg become unreadable by the programs that should be able to read them. The ransomware marks these files with the “.kodg” extension, which is why the Kodg is called that. If you were to change the names of the files and get rid of the extension, they would still not work because they’re broken in the inside.

Kodg is obviously a malicious program that’s meant to extort the victims for money. It’s a new edition of Djvu, following after Mbed, Grod, and Peet. This ransomware collects money from some victims and might end those people the necessary info to fix their files, but that info is different for each victim. Those who don’t have $500 to spend on a chance of getting their data back are left to deal with having lost their files. May of Kodg’s victims will probably never restore them.

Locking files isn’t all that the Kodg ransomware does: it also blocks cybersecurity blogs on the infected computer and steals passwords with the help of a spyware trojan that it installs. The cyber-criminals might compromise and even sell your accounts.

Kodg ransomware characteristics and removal in short:

Kodg symptoms	Files refuse to open Files have “.kodg” as a suffix Some websites are blocked
How the ransomware infects PCs	Infects pirated files and programs Comes in cracks and activators Installs a spyware program
Remove Kodg ransomware and other infections	Unblock security sites Download a scanner tool Run the anti-malware (like SpyHunter) and remove the infections Change passwords
Fix .kodg files	Restore the files from a backup Use shadow volume copies, data recovery, etc. Wait for a free decryption solution for Kodg

If ransomware is made up of “ransom” and “malware”, the ransom part of Kodg is described in the ransom notes that the virus leaves in multiple folders. The notes are called _readme.txt and they talk about how the people behind Kodg can fix your files if you pay them $490:

ATTENTION!

Don’t worry, you can return all your files!
All your files like photos, databases, documents and other important are encrypted with strongest encryption and unique key.
The only method of recovering files is to purchase decrypt tool and unique key for you.
This software will decrypt all your encrypted files.
What guarantees you have?
You can send one of your encrypted file from your PC and we decrypt it for free.
But we can decrypt only 1 file for free. File must not contain valuable information.
You can get and look video overview decrypt tool:
https://we.tl/t-7YSRbcuaMa
Price of private key and decrypt software is $980.
Discount 50% available if you contact us first 72 hours, that’s price for you is $490.
Please note that you’ll never restore your data without payment.
Check your e-mail “Spam” or “Junk” folder if you don’t get answer more than 6 hours.

To get this software you need write on our e-mail:
[email protected]

Reserve e-mail address to contact us:
[email protected]

How Kodg spreads

Students and, in general, people who can’t afford to buy expensive commercial software, textbooks, and so resort to pirating end up being the main demographic for Kodg and its ransomware family, Djvu. The viruses that come from Djvu have probably infected over a hundred thousand people in the time it’s existed.

Sites that host pirated content often show malicious advertising that’s dangerous on its own, but Kodg actually infects the files that are hosted there. This means that it’s enough to fail to scan one download to lose your photos, projects, and other files to the infection.

Pirate, torrent sites, and strange fake freeware download sites are where Kodg ransomware gets uploaded. It can be found infecting installers, cracks, activators, key generators, and pdf files. Because a lot of this isn’t well moderated, the distributors of Kodg can get away easily with uploading their ransomware again and again. Other malware is a threat to pirates, too, for example, textbooks have trojans in them and malicious ads on those sites spread all kinds of scams.

How to remove the Kodg virus

How to fix Kodg files

Those who have file backups only need to get rid of Kodg before they can move their files back on their PC. But people who don’t have backup copies to restore their data from might be interested in their other options.

First, it’s important to know that cryptography is used by Kodg to lock your files. Cryptography allows meaningful content to be scrambled and turned into random noise in such a way that, if you know the exact algorithm and have a very specific number – the decryption key – you can reverse this process and perfectly recreate the original files. And though Kodg’s decrypter is known (Emsisofts decryptor for STOP Djvu), the decryption key is different for each victim and only the operators of Kodg know all the keys.

Although, Emsisoft may discover the offline decryption key at some point and that is the same for everyone. There is a chance that some of your files are decryptable by the offline key – go to C/systemid/personalid.txt and look for a key that ends with “t1”, as that has usually signified that the Djvu ransomware used the offline key.

There is the fact that, to be as fast as possible, Kodg doesn’t encrypt the entirety of big files, but only enough to do damage. For example, the very beginning of the file is always encrypted by Kodg, but portions after that might remain untouched. So you might be able to extract your archives and find unencrypted files, or repair your songs and only lose the first few seconds.

How to delete the infection

Before recovering the data, it’s important to get rid of Kodg from your computer. That won’t fix the files, but it will prevent them from being re-encrypted. Remove the Kodg infection in a few steps:

• Use any competent antivirus program or emergency scanner, like SpyHunter, to get rid of Kodg and other infections.
• Make sure to delete the files that infected your machine in the first place.
• Always keep your antivirus program on and up-to-date, scan every download before you run it. Pirate sites are full of malware, it’s important to be careful.
• Change passwords of your online accounts because Kodg might have come with a password-stealing component and if it got your passwords, they need to be changed to prevent the accounts being hijacked.

Important -- edit the hosts file to unblock security websites

TL DR : The hosts file is edited to block security sites Before the virus can be removed, it's necessary to fix the hosts file (the file which controls which addresses connect to which IPs). That is the reason the majority of security websites is inaccessible when infected with this particular parasite. This infection edits this file to stop certain websites, including anti-malware download sites, from being accessed from the infected computer, making browsers return the "This site can't be reached" error. Luckily, it's trivial to fix the file and remove the edits that were made to it.

Find and edit the hosts file

The hosts file can be found on C:/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc/hosts. If you don't see it, change the settings to see hidden files.

1. In the Start Menu, search for Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, find Appearance and Personalization.
3. Select Folder Options.
4. Open the View tab.
5. Open Advanced settings.
6. Select "Show hidden files...".
7. Select OK.

Open this file with administrator privileges.

1. Open the Start Menu and enter "notepad".
2. When Notepad shows up in the result, right-click on it.
3. In the menu, choose "Run as administrator"
4. File->Open and browse for the hosts file.

The hosts file should look like this: Delete additional lines that they connect various domain names to the wrong IP address. Save the file.

Download and run the antivirus program

After that, download antivirus programs and use them to remove the ransomware, the trojan, and other malware. Spyhunter (https://www.2-viruses.com/reviews/spyhunter/dwnld/).

Automatic Malware removal tools

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Kodg 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 Kodg 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 Kodg 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.