Nemty Ransomware - How to remove

Nemty is just an ordinary file-locker virus that was recently discovered by a cybersecurity researcher. Ransomware is still an unfortunately effective way to extort money from innocent people and criminals from all over the world try to cash in on the trend. And, for now, prevention is the best cure for Nemty and all the other ransomware.

Nemty doesn’t seem to be related with any other virus, but its behavior is not any different than Masodas, Junior, or Nqix — some of the other ransomware infections active right now. All these viruses infect a computer and cryptographically lock most of the files, then mark them by changing their names. A lot of these viruses try to disable the installed antivirus and they achieve persistence by hiding in multiple folders and setting up scheduled tasks. They’re really serious threats that generate real profit for their developers, and they can be quite sophisticated.

How Nemty works

Nemty drops a ransom note called NEMTY-DECRYPT.txt:

—=== NEMTY PROJECT ===—

[+] Whats Happen? [+]

Your files are encrypted, and currently unavailable. You can check it: all files on you computer has extension .nemty
By the way, everything is possible to restore, but you need to follow our instructions. Otherwise, you cant return your data (NEVER).

This says that the files are encrypted — that is how most ransomware works. Cryptography can turn meaningful content into something that looks like complete and random nonsense. It’s possible to reverse that if you have a special number — the decryption key. This key is unique to you, so if you have yours, it can’t help any other victims of Nemty — at least, if Nemty’s developers implemented the encryption properly.

Then the extortionists try to convince you that the only way to get your files back is to follow their instructions. It goes without saying that criminals can’t be trusted. In fact, there are cases where cybersecurity researchers find a way to crack a file-locker. If you save the .nemty files and check nomoreransom.org, there is a small chance that you can unlock all of your files for free.

[+] What guarantees? [+]

It’s just a business. We absolutely do not care about you and your deals, except getting benefits.
If we do not do our work and liabilities – nobody will not cooperate with us.
It’s not in our interests.
If you will not cooperate with our service – for us, its does not matter. But you will lose your time and data, cause just we have the private key.
In practise – time is much more valuable than money.

Here, Nemty’s developers are referencing the infamy of cryptoextortionists as people who take the ransom money and run away. There are plenty of such people out there — people who break your files, take your money, but never help you restore your data. Many victims experience this and lose hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Remove Nemty ransomware

Before trying to restore the files, the first thing to do is to remove Nemty from the infected computer. It doesn’t do anything for the encrypted files, but making sure that the virus is gone does make sure that new files won’t be encrypted.

Some of the strongest ransomware viruses employ many tricks to avoid being removed, but most competent antivirus tools, like Spyhunter can detect Nemty, as shown by this VirusTotal report. An alternative is to reinstall Windows. System restore shouldn’t be used before the virus is removed, by the way.

As for restoring the data, the best way to do that is through backups. File backups that were created before the infection and have all of the files that you care about can make the ransomware completely ineffective and only cost you a bit of time to copy those files on your newly clean computer.

If backups don’t exist or were encrypted, which is still the case with the majority of ransomware victims, then the alternative solutions that are described in the below guide can be used. But really, backups are the best solution to file-encrypting viruses and should be diligently maintained and regularly tested. Some files and projects are invaluable, but that does not mean that the criminals should be able to hold them for ransom.

Automatic Malware removal tools

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Nemty 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 Nemty 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 Nemty 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.