MafiaWare Ransomware - How to remove

MafiaWare Ransomware is a dangerous virus that can infect your system and do a significant damage to it. Ransoware virus locks all files stored on the system so the user can no longer use them. In order to retrieve them they are forced to pay a ransom. If it happened to you, you have come the right place. In this article we will provide you with detailed instructions how to eliminate this virus from your system and advise the best practises to retrieve locked files.

First of all, you have to eliminate MafiaWare Ransomware from your system because it can cost you more damage if you keep it installed. The ultimate way to get rid of ransomware like this is to download reliable anti-malware application, such as Spyhunter, install it on your computer and then run a full scan of all files stored on your hard drive. Either one of these applications should detect and eliminate MafiaWare Ransomware just in a few moments. It should also protect your computer from similar infections in the future so it’s worth to keep it installed.

However, if for some reasons you don’t want to use any additional anti-malware software, MafiaWare Ransomware can be eliminate manually as well. This process might be complicated so we have developed a step-by-step MafiaWare Ransomware manual removal guide to assist you – scroll down below this article and take a look at it. Try to complete all steps correctly and you will be able to eliminate MafiaWare Ransomware manually by your own.

To learn how you can retrieve your locked files please continue reading this article. If you have some questions about this malware or removal process, feel free to ask them in the comments section below and we will do our best to answer them all.

About MafiaWare Ransomware

The main goal of this ransomware virus is infect computers, lock files stored on them and then ask for the ransom in order to unlock them – that’s how cyber criminals behind MafiaWare Ransomware make money. So once inside of your computer, MafiaWare Ransomware will run a scan of all files stored on your computer and detect files that can be locked. Basically this kind of virus can lock all of files that are important to you – text documents, photos, audio or video files and so on. Once the scan is complete, a .txt document will be created and placed on your desktop. It contains all the information about your situation and what you should do in order to retrieve your files. It states that all your personal files has been locked and you should pay the ransom of 0.18 Bitcoins ( About 155 dollars at a current exchange rate). After the payment is complete you will haw to write an e-mail to [email protected] and specify details of the payment. Cyber criminals should send you a special key or a decryption software so you would be able to unlock your files.

However, we do not recommend to pay the ransom. First of all, there are no guarantees that even if you pay the ransom your files will be unlocked, you can never trust cyber criminals. Secondly, by paying the ransom you will be supporting cyber criminals and that’s not a good thing to do.

Infected files will be locked with an extension ‘.locked-by-mafia’ so there is no way to open them. Unfortunately, at the moment there are no known tools to decrypt files with this extension, but cyber security experts are working on it an we will keep you updated. There is a way to retrieve your files by performing a system restore. However, in order to do that you have to have a valid copy of your hard drive that was made before your computer got infected. Here’s instructions how to perform system restore: https://www.2-viruses.com/how-to-do-a-system-restore.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore MafiaWare 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 MafiaWare 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 MafiaWare 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