The Bettercallsaul virus belongs with the ransomware type of infection. A harmful program of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (photos, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file, creating the DECRYPT_MY_FILES.txt files in each folder containing encrypted files.
What is Bettercallsaul virus?
☝️ A scientifically correct designation for the Bettercallsaul would be “a ransomware-type malicious agent”.
Bettercallsaul will append its own .bettercallsaul extension to every file’s name. For instance, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be renamed to “photo.jpg.bettercallsaul”. In the same manner, the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.bettercallsaul”, and so forth.
In every directory with the encoded files, a DECRYPT_MY_FILES.txt file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. That is basically the scheme of the malefaction.
Bettercallsaul summary:
| Name | Bettercallsaul Virus |
| Extension | .bettercallsaul |
| Ransomware note | DECRYPT_MY_FILES.txt |
| Detection | Crytex.Virus.FileInfector.DDS, Win32/Filecoder.OLC, Malware-Cryptor.InstallCore.5 |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .bettercallsaul extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Bettercallsaul virus |
In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Bettercallsaul looks like. Each filename has the “.bettercallsaul” extension appended to it.
That is how encrypted “.bettercallsaul” files look.
How did my machine catch Bettercallsaul ransomware?
There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware injection.
Nowadays, there are three most popular ways for tamperers to have ransomware working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer networks.
If you open your mailbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is strange to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a ransomware file enclosed in them. Thus it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan virus scheme1. A Trojan is an object that infiltrates into your machine pretending to be something else. For example, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some software. However, what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful agent that encrypts your data. As the update file can have any title and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the source of the files you’re downloading. The best thing is to trust the software developers’ official websites.
As for the peer networks like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. You can never guess what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is finished.
How to remove the Bettercallsaul virus?
It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your data, the Bettercallsaul virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.
Often criminals would decode few of your files to prove that they do have the decryption program. As Bettercallsaul virus is a relatively new ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware instruments are constantly upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.
Of course, if the hackers do the job of encoding victim’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After receiving the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption code to the victim. There were reports about ransomware developers just disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.
The best countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud drive or at least on an external drive. Surely, that might be not enough. The most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the system restoration.
Bettercallsaul is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. Examples of those are Mppn, Maos, Isal, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Bettercallsaul are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: files become encrypted, their extensions altered, ransom notes appear in every folder containing encrypted files.
Some lucky people were able to decode the arrested files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption key to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a bandits’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How do I avoid ransomware attack?
Bettercallsaul ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.
You can defend yourself from its infiltration in three easy steps:
- Never open any letters from unknown mailers with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are expecting (how can you win in a money prize draw without participating in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the dubious email carefully. A fake letter will always have mistakes.
- Do not use cracked or unknown software. Trojan viruses are often shared as a part of cracked products, most likely as a “patch” preventing the license check. But untrusted programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable software, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try to find information on this software product on the anti-malware forums, 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 PC.
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 computer.
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 PC for Bettercallsaul 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 completed, 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 “.bettercallsaul” files?Is it possible to open“.bettercallsaul” files?
Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.bettercallsaul” files you will not be able to access them.
🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?
Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. If not, there is still a function of System Restore but it needs a Restore Point to be previously saved. The rest of the methods require patience.
🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Bettercallsaul virus?
No way! Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.
With the help of GridinSoft Anti-Malware, you can clean your computer off the actual viruses. The virus that has infiltrated your device is probably still functional and launching checks periodically to encode any new files you might create on your PC after the attack. As it has been said above, the Bettercallsaul virus does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide criminals with easy access to your system in the future.
🤔 What should I do if the Bettercallsaul ransomware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.
If that happened, you need to have a flash memory card with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to execute the procedure. You see, the ransomware starts automatically as the system launches and encodes any new files created or imported into your system. To stop this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential programs to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What can I do right now?
Some of the blocked files can be located elsewhere.
- 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 relatives. Just ask them to give those pictures back to you.
- If you have initially got any of your files from the Internet, you can try to do it again.
- Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
- Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, phone, external storage, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery utilities4 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you can do it only after you kill the ransomware itself with an anti-malware 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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Brendan SmithHow to Remove BETTERCALLSAUL Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: BETTERCALLSAUL Virus
Description: BETTERCALLSAUL Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .bettercallsaul 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 Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
