AKIRA Ransomware 🔐 (.AKIRA File) — Removal Guide

The Akira virus belongs with the ransomware type of malicious agent. Harmful software of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the computer (photos, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, creating the akira_readme.txt files in every folder containing 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 Akira virus?

☝️ A strictly correct designation for the Akira is “a ransomware malicious agent”.

Akira will append its own .akira extension to the title of every encrypted file. For instance, a file entitled “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.akira”. Likewise, the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will end up as “table.xlsx.akira”, and so forth.

In each folder with the encoded files, a akira_readme.txt file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the Akira developers. That is it.

Akira summary:

The akira_readme.txt file accompanying the Akira malware provides the following dispiriting information:

Hi friends,

Whatever who you are and what your title is if you\'re reading this it means the internal infrastructure of your company is fully or partially dead, all your backups - virtual, physical - everything that we managed to reach - are completely removed. Moreover, we have taken a great amount of your corporate data prior to encryption.

Well, for now let\'s keep all the tears and resentment to ourselves and try to build a constructive dialogue. We\'re fully aware of what damage we caused by locking your internal sources. At the moment, you have to know:

1. Dealing with us you will save A LOT due to we are not interested in ruining your financially. We will study in depth your finance, bank & income statements, your savings, investments etc. and present our reasonable demand to you. If you have an active cyber insurance, let us know and we will guide you how to properly use it. Also, dragging out the negotiation process will lead to failing of a deal.
2. Paying us you save your TIME, MONEY, EFFORTS and be back on track within 24 hours approximately. Our decryptor works properly on any files or systems, so you will be able to check it by requesting a test decryption service from the beginning of our conversation. If you decide to recover on your own, keep in mind that you can permanently lose access to some files or accidently corrupt them - in this case we won\'t be able to help.
3. The security report or the exclusive first-hand information that you will receive upon reaching an agreement is of a great value, since NO full audit of your network will show you the vulnerabilities that we\'ve managed to detect and used in order to get into, identify backup solutions and upload your data.
4. As for your data, if we fail to agree, we will try to sell personal information/trade secrets/databases/source codes - generally speaking, everything that has a value on the darkmarket - to multiple threat actors at ones. Then all of this will be published in our blog -.
5. We\'re more than negotiable and will definitely find the way to settle this quickly and reach an agreement which will satisfy both of us.

If you\'re indeed interested in our assistance and the services we provide you can reach out to us following simple instructions:

1. Install TOR Browser to get access to our chat room - hxxps://www.torproject.org/download/.
2. Paste this link - -.
3. Use this code - - - to log into our chat.

Keep in mind that the faster you will get in touch, the less damage we cause.

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

That is how encrypted “.akira” files look.

How did Akira ransomware end up on my PC?

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

There are currently three most exploited methods for malefactors to have ransomware working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you open your inbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is strange to you, beware of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a harmful file attached to them. Thus it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan file model. A Trojan is a program that gets into your machine disguised as something else. Imagine, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some service. However, what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful program that encrypts your data. As the update file can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the files you’re downloading. The best way is to use the software developers’ official websites.

As for the peer networks like torrent trackers or eMule, the danger is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never guess what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.

How do I get rid of the Akira virus?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Akira virus will probably install Vidar Stealer on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes racketeers would decrypt some of your files so you know that they really have the decryption program. As Akira virus is a relatively recent ransomware, safety measures designers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decryption tools are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Understandably, if the criminals do the job of encrypting victim’s critical files, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After receiving 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 solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud disk or at least on an external disk. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all went down. But at least it is something. It is also wise to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS is rolled back.

Akira 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, Coty, Foza, Boza, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Akira are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: files become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in every directory containing encrypted files.

Some fortunate users were able to decode the blocked files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-ransomware developers. Sometimes the hackers accidentally send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But obviously, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.

How do I avert ransomware infection?

Akira ransomware has no endless power, neither does any similar malware.

You can defend your PC from its attack within three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (how can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the questionable email carefully. A hoax email will always have mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often shared as an element of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are difficult to distinguish from trustworthy ones, as trojans may also have the functionality you need. Try to find information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best solution is not to use such programs at all.
• And to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful defense for your system.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft¹

There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft².

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 PC.

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 computer for Akira 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 “.akira” files?Are the “.akira” files accessible?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.akira” files are decrypted.

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

If the “.akira” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. 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. All other solutions require time.

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

No way! Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware will remove the threats from your PC. The virus that has infected your system is must be still active and running scans periodically to encrypt any new files you might create on your PC after the attack. As it has been mentioned above, the Akira ransomware comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide hackers with easy access to your PC after some time.

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

If that happened, you need to prepare a memory stick with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to do the cleaning. You see, the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or brought into your PC. To stop this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital applications to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on running Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the encrypted data can be found elsewhere.

• If you sent or received your critical files through email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You might have shared photographs 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 media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, mobile, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery programs³ to get your lost data back since ransomware arrests the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the video below, you can see how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you can do it only after you kill the ransomware itself with an antivirus 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. GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
2. More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/products
3. Here are the best 10 file recovery tools of 2021.