The Arizona virus belongs to the ransomware type of infection. Ransomware of such sort encrypts all the data on your PC (images, text files, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, leaving the README.txt text files in each directory containing encrypted files.
Arizona virus: what is known so far?
☝️ A strictly correct denomination for the Arizona would be “a ransomware infection”.
Arizona will add its extra .AZ extension to every file’s title. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be altered to “photo.jpg.AZ”. Just like the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will be changed to “table.xlsx.AZ”, and so forth.
In each directory with the encrypted files, a README.txt file 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 instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the tamperers. That is how they do it.
Arizona summary:
| Name | Arizona Virus |
| Extension | .AZ |
| Ransomware note | README.txt |
| Detection | Win32:Xpirat-C [Inf], Win32:ReposFxg-F [Trj], Win64/CoinMiner.AEF |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) get a .AZ extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Arizona virus |
In the screenshot below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Arizona looks like. Each filename has the “.AZ” extension appended to it.
An example of encrypted .AZ files.
How did my machine catch Arizona ransomware?
There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.
Nowadays, there are three most popular ways for hackers to have the Arizona virus acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.
If you access your inbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is unknown to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a harmful file enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with letters like these.
Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan virus scheme1. A Trojan is an object that gets into your PC disguised as something different. Imagine, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some software. But what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful agent that encodes your data. Since the installation wizard can have any title and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The optimal way is to trust the software companies’ official websites.
As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like torrents 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 a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.
How to remove the Arizona virus?
It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Arizona virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your computer to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.
Often racketeers would decrypt several of your files to prove that they do have the decryption tool. As Arizona virus is a relatively new ransomware, safety measures engineers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decoding instruments are frequently updated, so the solution may soon be available.
Understandably, if the criminals do the job of encrypting someone’s essential data, the desperate person will most likely fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying to criminals does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After receiving the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about hackers just disappearing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.
The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud storage or at least on an external storage. Of course, that might be not enough. The most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon when it all started. But at least it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the OS restoration.
There are other ransomware products, besides Arizona, that work similarly. Examples of those are Dehd, Zaqi, Sbpg, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Arizona are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: files become inaccessible, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encrypted files.
Some fortunate users were able to decode the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the criminals accidentally send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the victim to restore the files. But obviously, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How do I avoid ransomware attack?
Arizona ransomware has no superpower, so as any similar malware.
You can protect yourself from its infiltration in several easy steps:
- Never open any emails from unknown mailers 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 participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email with caution. A fake letter will surely have a mistake.
- Never use cracked or unknown software. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as a part of cracked software, possibly as a “patch” to prevent the license check. But dubious programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable ones, because trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try to find information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful shield for your system.
Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft2
There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft3.
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 system for Arizona 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
🤔 How can I open “.AZ” files?Is it possible to open“.AZ” files?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.AZ” files are decrypted.
🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.AZ” files ASAP. How can I do that?
It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. 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 Arizona malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?
Absolutely not! Unlike the ransomware program itself, the encrypted files do not jeopardize your system.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with active viruses. The ransomware that has attacked your PC is probably still functional and running scans every so often to arrest any new files you might create on your PC after the attack. As it has been mentioned above, the Arizona ransomware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide malefactors with easy access to your PC after some time.
🤔 What to do if the Arizona virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.
In such a case, you need to have a flash memory card with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to execute the procedure. You see, the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or brought into your computer. To block this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital applications to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on running Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 And what should I do now?
Many of the blocked files might still be at your disposal
- If you sent or received your critical files via email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
- You might have shared images or videos with your friends or family members. Just ask them to give those images back to you.
- If you have initially got any of your files from the Web, you can try downloading them again.
- Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud storage might have all those files too.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, cellphone, flash memory, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery utilities4 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware arrests the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before 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.
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Brendan SmithHow to Remove ARIZONA Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: ARIZONA Virus
Description: ARIZONA Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .AZ extension. So, you can't use them at all.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Virus
User Review
( votes)References
- You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
- GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
- More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
- Here are Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
