Maze Ransomware - How to remove

Maze Ransomware is a cryptovirus that locks files and demands money in exchange for fixing them. There are some other ways that can restore some of the encrypted files, but the criminals behind Maze try to stop their victims from researching by manufacturing a sense of urgency and setting the ransom payment just low enough to be in reach of each victim.

How Maze works

Maze infects a computer and encrypts the files. Each file gets a unique and random extension.

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Maze sets a background picture with a note, including the name of the cryptovirus. Maze has apparently been named by the developers themselves — it’s unusual for this to happen, but it makes it easier for people to find out which ransomware virus has attacked them. Maze also reveals what algorithms are used to encrypt the files — ChaCha and RSA. Since ChaCha is symmetric and RSA is asymmetric, they’re probably in used together in a hybrid encryption scheme. Here’s the text from the background picture of an infected computer

Maze Ransomware

Dear -, your files have been encrypted by RSA-2048 and ChaCha algorithms
The only way to restore them is to buy decryptor

These algorithms are one of the strongest
You can read about them at wikipedia

If you understand importance of situation you can restore all files by following instructions in DECRYPT-FILES.html file

You can decrypt 1 file for free as a proof of work
We know that this computer is a home computer
So we will give you appropriate price for recovering

Maze also creates a ransom note named DECRYPT-FILES.html. Its appearance is very similar to the note by the 0010 SYSTEM FAILURE 0010 virus (which is now being called ChaCha ransomware and is most likely related to Maze), though the e-mail addresses of the extortionists are different:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• [email protected]

Some advertising networks are used to redirect people to a website which distributes the Maze ransomware disguised as a legitimate app. This is an example of how shady websites like Studynerdz.com can cause some very serious problems and why it’s important to secure our computers to avoid viruses in the first place.

Like most ransomware, Maze is asking for money in exchange for decrypting and restoring the files. But Maze promises that the price will be appropriate for the type of computer that was infected. As found by BleepingComputer, the line “home computer” in the desktop background picture note can be changed to “backup server”, “primary domain controller”, “server in corporate network”, “standalone server”, “very valuable to you”, and “workstation in corporate network”. The assumption that the developers of Maze make is that a machine that had files essential for running a business is going to be more valuable than a home computer. These extortionists likely want to catch as many fish as they can, and for them, that probably means asking for as much (or little) money as they expect their victim to have. The victims are left feeling like their files are just within reach. I advise you to consider all the available options for recovering files. Paying criminals might not be the best one, especially when online extortionists don’t even have a good record of restoring the locked data.

Can the files be restored?

In general, paid decryption services should be avoided when possible. Even firms that specialize in restoring encrypted files are not any more reliable than buying a decryption key form the criminals behind Maze. And paying the ransom is only effective some of the time. Maze is still new and we don’t know how trustworthy and how competent the criminals behind it are.

If you have backups of your files, great! You can restore the files from there (though not before removing Maze from your machine). If you don’t have backups, there are still a few ways to try to get your files back — they’re listed in the guide below this article.

There is no free decryption for Maze, at least not now. But you can save the encrypted files somewhere and check for a free decryptor in the future, as the encrypted files are usually harmless.

How to remove Maze

If, after Maze has gone through your computer, you are unable to open some websites, check this guide on how to get around the problem. Some cryptoviruses, like DJVU, change the hosts file to stop people from accessing certain sites.

The infected computer should be scanned thoroughly and Maze and whatever malware came with it should be removed before the computer can be used normally again. If your normal antivirus isn’t detecting Maze, it could have been crippled by Maze — some cryptoviruses do that before they start the encryption process. Spyhunter, and other professional and reputable antivirus programs could catch and remove viruses from your machine. If adware was lead you to the site that was distributing Maze, it should now be removed, too, to avoid future infections.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Maze 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 Maze 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 Maze 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.