Rotor Virus - How to remove

Despite being a new member in the not-so-secret society of ransomware, Rotor virus manages to surprise even those that have seen numerous variants of these infections. The creators are exceptional: exceptionally greedy, we mean. With all other viruses demanding a ransom of 3 or 4 Bitcoins to the max, this specific example requires 4406.36 US (7 BTC) dollars for its “hard work” and “dedication”. We cannot grasp the idea of shady programmers being so piggish. They distribute the main file of the Rotor ransomware, called GbMxybQN.exe, and program it beforehand to initiate changes and, finally, an encryption. We hope that over the course of its relatively short career this ransomware was not successful in receiving 7 bitcoins as the fee for decryption. The most wise way out of this mess would be to run a full security scan after receiving the ransom note. Different anti-malware tools can detect Rotor virus with the following names: Win32.KadrBot [Trj], Trojan Heur.FU.E24BF9, FileCryptor.MMN, Trojan.Win.32.Generic!BT and etc.

About Rotor Virus

Rotor virus is yet another pathetic attempt to lure money out of users. Even if the amount of bitcoins is ridiculously huge, we cannot forget the possibility that desperate situations sometimes call for desperate measures. It would be a rather insane decision to spend such money on a promise that is implied by the vicious creators of Rotor virus. Interestingly enough, this variant targets not only separate operating systems, but has potential of influencing servers just as well. In the ransom note below, you can clearly spot the word “server” and the context it was put in. We should also mentioned that not all users refer to this virus as Rotor, but at certain occasions use a rather peculiar word: Cocoslim98. This is because one of the possible extensions have this email address incorporated in it.

After the payload of Rotor virus manages to slip into your device, it will complete all of the common objectives. The exact algorithm for encryption remains a mystery. However, the mainly targeted executables are said to be with the most popular extensions like .doc, .zip, .png, .jpg, .gif, .pdf and etc. This means that a high amount of your valuable data can be compromised. After the encryption is completed, victims won’t be able to run and access them. It will be quite easy to identify which files were sentenced to “death”. It is possible that Rotor virus can append three extensions: [email protected]____.tar, ____tarTrojan-Ransom.Win32.Rotor or [email protected]____.tar. Even though the creators do not urge you to contact them in the ransom note, they assume that you will understand this on your own. Why else would they incorporate email addresses into the added extensions? Besides this, it is possible that they are going to agree to decrypt one of your encoded files. Sometimes it is quite useful to use this feature. Security researchers have a much bigger chance of finding a decryptor if they have an encrypted and a restored executable. To make this quest for justice even more complexed for cyber heroes, Rotor ransomware is probably going to delete Shadow Volume Copies.

How to Decrypt Files Encrypted by Rotor Virus?

Security researchers have not created a proper decryption tool yet. However, we hope that is going to be done in the presumable feature. For now, please try the alternative methods that can be found in the sections below. You can try universal tools or check if the ransomware has really deleted Shadow Volume Copies. If you are reading this article simply of awareness, then please follow our advise yo store your data in backup storages. There are various online facilities that will protect your data. You can also upload files in your USB flash drives and keep valuable information there. Do not keep flash drives connected to your computers as ransomware viruses are capable of encrypting the data stored in such USBs.

How is Rotor Virus Distributed?

Rotor virus can found in various places: email accounts, social networking sites, random pop-ups or be distributed from other unreliable sources. Please be more attentive during your browsing and do not open any content that seems to be out of the ordinary. It is very popular to spread viruses via Facebook by tagging random people in a disturbing video. By opening an external link to the video, you might get infected. Email inboxes can also be filled with bizarre letters that feature attachments. Download them only if you are certain about the sender’s reliability.

Spyhunter or Malwarebytes are here to destroy Rotor virus. The following sections discuss decryption and removal in more detail.

How to recover Rotor Virus 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 Cocoslim98 has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Rotor Virus

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 Cocoslim98. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Rotor Virus 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 Cocoslim98 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 Rotor Virus 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.