3AM Ransomware 🔐 (.THREEAMTIME File) — Removal Guide

The 3am virus falls under the ransomware type of malicious agent. Malware of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its specific extension to every file, leaving the RECOVER-FILES.txt files in each directory with the encrypted files.

3am virus: what is known so far?

3am adds its extra .threeamtime extension to the title of each encrypted file. For example, an image named “photo.jpg” will be altered to “photo.jpg.threeamtime”. In the same manner, the Excel sheet with the name “table.xlsx” will be changed to “table.xlsx.threeamtime”, and so forth.

In every folder containing the encrypted files, a RECOVER-FILES.txt text document will be found. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can obtain this tool after contacting Tor website. That is it.

3am Overview:

The RECOVER-FILES.txt file coming in package with the 3am malware states the following:

Hello. \"3 am\" The time of mysticism, isn\'t it?

All your files are mysteriously encrypted, and the systems \"show no signs of life\", the backups disappeared. But we can correct this very quickly and return all your files and operation of the systems to original state.

All your attempts to restore data by himself will definitely lead to their damage and the impossibility of recovery. We are not recommended to you to do it on our own!!! (or do at your own peril and risk).

There is another important point: we stole a fairly large amount of sensitive data from your local network: financial documents; personal information of your employees, customers, partners; work documentation, postal correspondence and much more.

We prefer to keep it secret, we have no goal to destroy your business. Therefore can be no leakage on our part.

We propose to reach an agreement and conclude a deal.

Otherwise, your data will be sold to DarkNet/DarkWeb. One can only guess how they will be used.

Please contact us as soon as possible, using Tor-browser:

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Access key:

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In the screenshot below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the 3am looks like. Each filename has the “.threeamtime” extension added to it.

How did 3am ransomware end up on my PC?

There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most popular methods for evil-doers to have the 3am virus acting in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer file transfer.

• If you access your mailbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a ransomware file enclosed in them. So it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.
• Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan horse model. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your computer disguised as something else. For instance, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some software. But what is unboxed reveals itself a harmful program that encodes your data. As the installation package can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The best thing is to trust the software companies’ official websites.
• As for the peer networks like BitTorrent or eMule, the danger is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. You can never know what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded items with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How to remove ransomware?

It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your data, the 3am virus will most likely deploy Vidar Stealer on your machine to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

How to avoid ransomware attack?

3am ransomware has no superpower, neither does any similar malware.

You can armour your computer from its attack within three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the dubious letter carefully. A fake email will always contain a mistake.
• Never use cracked or unknown programs. Trojans are often spreaded as a part of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try to find information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way is not to use such software.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 How can I open “.threeamtime” files?Are the “.threeamtime” files accessible?

Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.threeamtime” files you will not be able to access them.

🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.threeamtime” files ASAP. How can I do that?

Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. In case you haven’t, there is still a chance that you do have a Restore Point from some time ago to roll back the whole system to the moment when it had no virus yet, but already had your files. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 What should I do if the 3am malware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the blocked files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files via email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to post those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud disks might have all those files as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, cellphone, flash memory, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery programs¹ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you can do it only after you eradicate the virus with an anti-malware program.

1. Here are Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.