AI_SARA GPT Virus 🔐 (.GPT Files) — [email protected]

The Ai_sara virus falls under the Dharma ransomware family. Ransomware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (photos, text files, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its specific extension to every file, leaving the AI_SARA.txt text files in every directory with the encrypted files.

What is known about the Ai_sara virus?

☝️ Ai_sara is a Dharma family ransomware virus.

The pattern of renaming is the following: .GPT. During the encryption, a file named, for instance, “report.docx” will be changed to “report.docx.id-1E857D00-SARA.[AI_SARA].GPT”.

In each directory with the encrypted files, a AI_SARA.txt text document will be found. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the Ai_sara developers. You can get this tool after contacting [email protected], [email protected] by email. That is it.

Ai_sara Summary:

The AI_SARA.txt file accompanying the Ai_sara malware states the following:

Hello, human.
Contact me:
write email [email protected] or [email protected]

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

How did Ai_sara 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 ransomware acting in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer file transfer.

• If you access your mailbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is unknown to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a harmful file enclosed in them. Thus it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with emails like these.
• Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan virus scheme. A Trojan is an object that infiltrates into your PC disguised as something else. Imagine, you download an installer of some program you want or an update for some software. But what is unboxed reveals itself a harmful agent that encodes your data. As the update wizard can have any title and any icon, you have to make 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 torrent trackers or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never know what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is finished.

How to remove ransomware?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Ai_sara virus will probably install Vidar Stealer on your PC to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.

How do I avert ransomware injection?

Ai_sara ransomware has no superpower, neither does any similar malware.

You can protect yourself from ransomware attack within several easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (how can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious letter carefully. A hoax email will surely have mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often spreaded as a part of cracked software, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy software, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. You can try to find information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such programs at all.

FAQ

🤔 Can I somehow access “.GPT” files?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.GPT” files first. Then you will be able to open them.

🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?

Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. Otherwise, you might try to employ System Restore. The only question is whether you have saved any Restore Points that would be helpful now. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 What to do if the Ai_sara ransomware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Some of the blocked data can be located elsewhere.

• If you sent or received your important files via email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to give those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud disks might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, phone, external storage, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can use data recovery programs² to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you kill the ransomware itself with an anti-malware program.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. Here are Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.