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

The Anon_by virus falls within the ransomware type of malicious agent. Harmful software of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (images, documents, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, leaving the anon_by.txt text files in every directory which contains the encrypted files.

What is Anon_by virus?

☝️ A strictly correct designation for the Anon_by would be “a ransomware-type infection”.

Anon_by will append its own .anon_by extension to every file’s name. For example, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be altered to “photo.jpg.anon_by”. In the same manner, the Excel sheet named “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.anon_by”, and so forth.

In each folder that contains the encrypted files, a anon_by.txt file will appear. 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 instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can obtain this decoding tool after contacting @AnonymousRussian, @An0nymousRUS, @anon_red_bot, @anon_by_bot through email. That is it.

Anon_by summary:

The anon_by.txt document accompanying the Anon_by malware states the following:

Вас Атакованы


Официальное сообщество Anonymous рФ, основаное на добровольческой деятельности против недобросовестных стран и др.


Резерв: @AnonymousRussian
Переходник: @An0nymousRUS
Редакция: @anon_red_bot
По всем вопросам: @anon_by_bot
Слава **** Братья!

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

How did my computer get infected with Anon_by ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular ways for hackers to have ransomware working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you access your mailbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is unknown to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a malware file enclosed in them. So it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat 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 objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.

How to remove the Anon_by virus?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Anon_by virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your computer to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware² can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes tamperers would unblock several of your files so you know that they do have the decryption tool. As Anon_by virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software designers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. However, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Sure thing, if the criminals do the job of encrypting someone’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. However, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still dangerous. After obtaining the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports of criminals just disappearing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.

The best 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 drive. Obviously, that might be insufficient. Your most important thing could be that one you were working upon when it all happened. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the OS restoration.

Anon_by 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, Towz, Powd, Tuow, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Anon_by are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: files become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes are created in every directory containing encoded files.

Some lucky victims were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-malware experts. Sometimes the hackers accidentally send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom note. Such an epic fail allows the injured part 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 to avert ransomware infection?

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

You can armour your system from ransomware injection taking several easy steps:

• Never open any letters from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (can you win in a money prize draw without participating in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the dubious email carefully. A fake email will always have a mistake.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often distributed as a part of cracked software, possibly as a “patch” to prevent the license check. But untrusted programs are difficult to distinguish from trustworthy ones, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try to find information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best solution is not to use such programs at all.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft³

Download Removal Tool.

Run the setup file.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

Click on “Clean Now”.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 How can I open “.anon_by” files?Is it possible to open“.anon_by” files?

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

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

If the “.anon_by” 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. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 What actions should I take if the Anon_by ransomware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the encrypted files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files by email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to give those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, mobile, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery programs⁵ 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 recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you can do it only after you kill 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. Here are Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.