ACESSD Virus 🔐 (.ACESSD Files) — How to Remove?

The Acessd virus falls under the MedusaLocker ransomware family. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, leaving the How_to_back_files.html text files in each directory with the encrypted files.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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What is known about the Acessdvirus?

☝️ A strictly correct description for the Acessd is “a MedusaLocker family ransomware malicious agent”.

Acessd appends its extra .acessd extension to every file’s title. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.acessd”. Just like the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.acessd”, and so forth.

In each directory that contains the encoded files, a How_to_back_files.html file will be found. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can obtain this tool after contacting support1@dustintune.com through email. That is how they do it.

Acessd summary:

The How_to_back_files.html document coming in package with the Acessd malware states the following:

YOUR PERSONAL ID:
-
/!\\ YOUR COMPANY NETWORK HAS BEEN PENETRATED /!\\
All your important files have been encrypted!


Your files are safe! Only modified. (RSA+AES)


ANY ATTEMPT TO RESTORE YOUR FILES WITH THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE
WILL PERMANENTLY CORRUPT IT.
DO NOT MODIFY ENCRYPTED FILES.
DO NOT RENAME ENCRYPTED FILES.

 

No software available on internet can help you. We are the only ones able to
solve your problem.


We gathered highly confidential/personal data. These data are currently stored on
a private server. This server will be immediately destroyed after your payment.
If you decide to not pay, we will release your data to public or re-seller.
So you can expect your data to be publicly available in the near future..


We only seek money and our goal is not to damage your reputation or prevent
your business from running.


You will can send us 2-3 non-important files and we will decrypt it for free
to prove we are able to give your files back.


Contact us for price and get decryption software.


If you can not use the above link, use the email:
support1@dustintune.com
support2@mrcpinks.com
* To contact us, create a new free email account on the site: protonmail.com
IF YOU DON\'T CONTACT US WITHIN 72 HOURS, PRICE WILL BE HIGHER.

In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Acessd looks like. Each filename has the “.acessd” extension appended to it.

That is how encrypted “.acessd” files look.

How did my computer get infected with Acessd ransomware?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for malefactors to have ransomware planted in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.

If you access your inbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a malicious file enclosed in them. Thus it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan horse scheme². A Trojan is a program that gets into your computer pretending to be something legal. For instance, you download an installer of some program you want or an update for some service. However, what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful program that compromises your data. As the update file can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the things you’re downloading. The best way is to trust the software companies’ official websites.

As for the peer file transfer protocols like BitTorrent or eMule, the danger is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. You can never guess what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of the Acessd virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Acessd virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware³ can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes tamperers would decrypt few of your files so you know that they do have the decryption tool. Since Acessd virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software designers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Understandably, if the evildoers succeed in encoding someone’s critical data, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. However, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still dangerous. After getting the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports of malefactors simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.

The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external storage. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working on when it all happened. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the OS is rolled back.

Acessd is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. For instance, Qoqa, Goaq, Qotr, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Acessd are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become inaccessible, their extensions altered, ransom notes are found in every directory containing encoded files.

Some fortunate people were able to decrypt the blocked files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the criminals mistakenly send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.

How do I avoid ransomware infiltration?

Acessd ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can defend yourself from ransomware infiltration within three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown mailboxes with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the questionable letter with caution. A hoax letter will always contain mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojans are often shared as a part of cracked products, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But untrusted programs are difficult to tell from trustworthy software, because trojans may also have the functionality you seek. You can try to find information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way is not to use such software.
• And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, check them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful armor for your system.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft⁴

There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft⁵.

Download Removal Tool.

You can download GridinSoft Anti-Malware by clicking the button below:

Run the setup file.

When setup file has finished downloading, double-click on the setup-antimalware-fix.exe file to install GridinSoft Anti-Malware on your system.

An User Account Control asking you about to allow GridinSoft Anti-Malware to make changes to your device. So, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware will automatically start scanning your system for Acessd infections and other malicious programs. This process can take a 20-30 minutes, so I suggest you periodically check on the status of the scan process.

Click on “Clean Now”.

When the scan has finished, you will see the list of infections that GridinSoft Anti-Malware has detected. To remove them click on the “Clean Now” button in right corner.

FAQ

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

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

🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?

If the “.acessd” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. Otherwise, you might try to employ System Restore. The only question is whether you have saved any Restore Points that would be helpful now. All other solutions require time.

🤔 If GridinSoft deletes the Acessd malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?

Of course not. The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.

With the help of GridinSoft Anti-Malware, you can clean your computer off the actual viruses. The virus that has infiltrated your device is must be still active and launching checks every so often to encrypt any new files you might create on your computer after the initial attack. As it has been said above, the Acessd malware comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide malefactors with easy access to your computer in the future.

🤔 What should I do if the Acessd malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

In such a case, you need to prepare a flash memory drive with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the procedure. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system boots and encodes any new files created or imported into your PC. To stop this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital applications to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Some of the blocked data can be found elsewhere.

• If you sent or received your important files by email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or family members. Simply ask them to give those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Web, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud disks might have all those files too.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, phone, memory stick, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can use file recovery programs⁶ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a restoration, but be advised: you can do it only after you remove the virus with an anti-malware program.

Also, you can contact the following governmental fraud and scam sites to report this attack:

• In the United States: On Guard Online;
• In Canada: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre;
• In the United Kingdom: Action Fraud;
• In Australia: SCAMwatch;
• In New Zealand: Consumer Affairs Scams;
• In France: Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information;
• In Germany: Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik;
• In Ireland: An Garda Síochána;

To report the attack, you can contact local executive boards. For instance, if you live in USA, you can have a talk with FBI Local field office, IC3 or Secret Service.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
3. You can read more on spyware variants and nature in the respective section of GridinSoft official website.
4. GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
5. More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
6. Here’s the list of Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.