MadBit Ransomware - How to remove

MadBit – a dangerous computer virus which employs AES encryption algorithm to encrypt your personal data and force you to pay for it. This kind of virus is listed as ransomware infection and is one of the most dangerous viruses that you can possible get infected with.

If you were unlucky enough and your computer is infected with MadBit, the virus will automatically scan your computer for personal files that can possibly be encrypted. And basically that’s any file – photos, audio and video files as well as text documents. After the encryption, unique extension “.enc” will be added to the end of every file and you wont be able to open them. We are not sure if this abbreviation stands for word “encryption” or it’s just a coincidence. Either way, all files featuring this extension will be locked without the ability to open them.

Right after that the encryption, you will notice a new window popping up. It is called “madbit encryptor: Hello, you are encrypted!”. This message is supposed to provide you with all information about your current situation and steps you should take in order to get rid of this virus and unlock your encrypted files. Original text of the message:

**!WARNING!***
***YOUR COMPUTER ARE INFECTED***
***ALL DATABASES, SITES AND USERS HOME FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED***
================================================
>>>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 to us up to 1 files for free decryption=== Please note: that files must NOT contain valuable information and their total size must be less than 1Mb === Important information === YOUR COMPUTER UID : COPY&SEND YOUR UID TO EMAIL’S : [email protected] ================================================ ***!WARNING!*** ===****rnadbit***madbit***madbit***madbit***madbit***madbit***madbit***madbit***madbit****===

It is not clear how much you should pay for the cyber criminals to get your files back. The amount should be revealed after you contact them via email [email protected]. You are also encouraged to send one encrypted file to them so they could decrypt it and send it back to you as a proof that they have the technology to decrypt files. Reportedly you will be asked to pay around 2000 Euros in Bitcoins, even though this facts is not confirmed.

Even if you think that 2000 Euros is not that much for your files, we still don’t recommend to do that. You shouldn’t even contact cyber criminals and there are several reasons why. First of all, you can be scammed – no one can guarantee that your files will be decrypted even after you pay the ransom. Secondly, supporting cyber criminals is not a good thing to do. The money you pay them as a ransom can be used to develop other ransomware infections in the future.

Restore files encrypted by MadBit virus

Unfortunately, there are no free decryption tools for this ransomware, so you won’t be able to download a tool to unlock your files. Similar to File-Locker ransomware, MadBit is using AES encryption method which is really difficult to decrypt. All you can do in this situation is to perform a system restore and set back your computer to the date previous to the infection. However, in order to do that you have to have a valid backup file.

Regardless the fact you managed to restore your files or not, you should make sure that malicious files of this infections are removed from your computer. It can be done by performing a scan with a decent anti-malware application, such as Spyhunter. You can use other tools too.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore MadBit 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 MadBit 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 MadBit 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.

Manual removal