BANTA Virus Files of Ransomware — How to remove virus?

The Banta virus belongs under the Phobos ransomware family. Malware of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (photos, documents, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, leaving the info.txt text files in every directory which contains the encrypted files.

What is Banta?

☝️ A strictly accurate description for the Banta would be “a Phobos family ransomware infection”.

The scheme of renaming is this: *file_name*.id[3HB7F400-2321].[[email protected]].Banta. As a part of encryption, a file named, for example, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx.id[3HB7F400-2321].[[email protected]].Banta”.

In every directory containing the encrypted files, a info.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 most probably contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. You can obtain this decrypting software after contacting [email protected] by email. That is how they do it.

Banta outline:

How did Banta ransomware end up on my PC?

There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular ways for hackers to have ransomware planted in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer networks.

If you open your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a harmful item enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

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 know what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Banta virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Banta virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware³ can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Sometimes racketeers would decrypt few of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption program. Since Banta virus is a relatively new ransomware, safety measures engineers have not yet found a method to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decoding instruments are frequently upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.

Understandably, if the evildoers do the job of encoding victim’s critical files, the hopeless person will most likely fulfill their demands. Nevertheless, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After obtaining the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption code to the victim. There were reports of criminals simply vanishing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The best safety measure against 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. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working on when it all happened. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the OS restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Banta, that work similarly. For instance, Nnqp, Mljx, Hudf, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Banta are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes are found in every directory containing encoded files.

Some fortunate users were able to decode the arrested files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers mistakenly send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But naturally, one should never rely on such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a tamperers’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How сan I avoid ransomware infiltration?

Banta ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can protect your computer from ransomware attack in three easy steps:

• Ignore any emails from unknown mailboxes with unknown 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?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, check all elements of the suspicious email carefully. A fake letter will surely contain mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as an element of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” which prevents the license check. Understandably, untrusted programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable ones, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try to find information on this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal solution is not to use such programs at all.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft⁴

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”.

FAQ

🤔 Are the “.id[3HB7F400-2321].[[email protected]].Banta” files accessible?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.id[3HB7F400-2321].[[email protected]].Banta” files are decrypted.

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

It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. If not, there is still a function of System Restore but it needs a Restore Point to be previously saved. All other solutions require time.

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

🤔 What can I do right now?

Some of the encrypted files can be located elsewhere.

• If you sent or received your critical files via email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or family members. Simply ask them to send those images 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 as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a laptop, phone, memory stick, etc.

HINT: You can use data recovery programs⁶ to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video 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 remove the virus with an antivirus program.

Also, you can contact the following official 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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