OzozaLocker Ransomware - How to remove

OzozaLocker is a ransomware virus discovered last week, that is, between the 21st to the 25th of November, 2016, by the cyber security investigators of MalwareHunterTeam. This new ransom-malware displays its ransom note in an interesting way – a pop-up window shows up after the victim has clicked the encrypted file twice. But what is the most important to mention as concerns OzozaLocker malware is that its free trustworthy decryptor has been released by the researchers from Emsisoft. You will find the link at the end of the article.

What is Already Known about OzozaLocker Ransomware?

OzozaLocker crypto-virus uses .locked extension to mark the encrypted files. The encrypted from the healthy files are discerned by the latter filename extension, appended as an additional one to the compromised data files. For instance, Wallpaper.jpg, after having been locked, receives the Wallpaper.jpg.locked name. The following file types can get affected by this ransomware threat:

.sql, .mp4, .7z, .rar, .m4a, .wma, .avi, .wmv, .csv, .d3dbsp, .zip, .sie, .sum, .ibank, .t13, .t12, .qdf, .gdb, .sid, .ncf, .menu, .layout, .dmp, .blob, .esm, .vcf, .vtf, .dazip, .rim, .w3x, .cfr, .ff, .vpp_pc, .lrf, .m2, .mcmeta, .vfs0, .mpqge, .kdb, .db0, .dba, .rofl, .hkx, .bar, .upk, .das, .iwi, .litemod, .asset, .forge, .ltx, .bsa, .apk, .re4, .sav, .lbf, .slm, .bik, .epk, .rgss3a, .pak, .big, .xxx, .desc, .py, .m3u, .flv, .js, .css, .rb, .png, .jpeg, .txt, .p7c, .p7b, .p12, .pfx, .pem, .crt, .cer, .der, .x3f, .srw, .pef, .ptx, .r3d, .rw2, .rwl, .raw, .raf, .orf, .nrw, .kdc, .dcr, .cr2, .crw, .bay, .sr2, .srf, .arw, .3fr, .dng, .jpe, .jpg, .cdr, .eps, .pdf, .pdd, .psd, .dbf, .mdf, .wb2, .rtf, .wpd, .dxg, .xf, .dwg, .pst, .accdb, .mdb, .pptm, .pptx, .ppt, .xlk, .xlsb, .xlsm, .xlsx, .xls, .docm, .docx, .doc, .odb, .odc, .odm, .odp, .ods, .bkp, .qic, .bkf, .sidn, .sidd, .mddata, .itl, .itdb, .icxs, .hvpl, .hplg, .hkdb, .mdbackup, .syncdb, .gho, .cas, .svg, .map, .wmo, .fos, .mov

The ransom note, called HOW TO DECRYPT YOU FILES.txt (it is apparent that the crooks have forgotten to add the letter R at the end of YOU) is written in the NotePad file. It contains the following message:

Files has been encrypted.
If you want to decrypt, please, send 1 bitcoin to address 1J6X2LzDrLyR9EoEDVJzogwW5esq5DyHRB and write me to
e-mail: [email protected]

Your key: zmhhyzh4MUd6zwdNd00yY1A2s0s1wvJBemz4vfBZbDVTRFF0u2xRTFduTzg3aTZnR2c

It is clear, indeed, and from the text of the message, that there are more letters, in fact, words missing. These coders show the typical feature of ransomware creators, that is, illiteracy. The size of the ransom is 1 BTC, which, according to the recent rise of the BTC rate, is 730.45 USD at this particular point in time of writing this post. The BTC address provided is the same in each case of the OzozaLocker infection, while the key, which ends the note, is different in each particular case of the infection. The first is the address of the account of the hackers, where all the ransom payments flow. The second – is the unique infection key generated for each owner of the compromised machine. The last detail of the note of OzozaLocker crypto-malware is the contact e-mail provided. It is Santa_helper@protonmail, which suggests that the these coders present themselves as Santa helpers, though the spirits they bring are far from those of the Christmas.

As regards the details OzozaLocker file-encrypting virus is spread, there are still no particularities revealed. Thus, the conventional ways ransomware viruses are distributed needs to be clarified once again. These are the following: spam e-mail links and attachments, fake downloads and infected websites. These can possibly be the main distribution channels of OzozaLocker ransomware.

Remove OzozaLocker Ransomware and Restore Your Files

Luckily, in the case of OzozaLocker virus infection, there are all the means created for removing the threat and restoring your data. To begin with the removal of this file-locking virus, you need to copy the locked data files before running a malware scanner, as if you forgot this, you would not be able to use the reliable decryptor we are going to introduce you with in just a couple of seconds. We recommend running one of the following virus scanners: Spyhunter or Malwarebytes. There is also the tutorial on how to remove the encrypting malware manually, which comes next. However, if you have never done this before, better opt for the automatic removal with Spyhunter, for instance. The free reputable decryptor can be downloaded from here.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore OzozaLocker 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 OzozaLocker 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 OzozaLocker 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.