BIP Virus Files of Ransomware — How to remove?

The Bip virus falls under the Phobos ransomware family. Malware of such sort encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, documents, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, creating the info.txt files in each 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 Bip virus?

☝️ A scientifically correct denomination for the Bip is “a Phobos family ransomware-type malicious agent”.

The pattern of renaming is the following: id-*******.[email address].bip. As a part of encryption, a file entitled, for example, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx.id-C279F237.[buydecrypt@qq.com].bip”.

In each directory that contains the encrypted files, a info.txt text document will be created. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the Bip developers. You can obtain this decryptor after contacting buydecrypt@qq.com through email. That is pretty much the scheme of the malefaction.

Bip summary:

The info.txt document coming in package with the Bip ransomware provides the following discouraging information:

all your data has been locked us
You want to return?
write email buydecrypt@qq.com

In the screenshot below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Bip looks like. Each filename has the “.id-*******.[email address].bip” extension added to it.

That is how encrypted “.id-*******.[email address].bip” files look.

How did my machine catch Bip ransomware?

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

Nowadays, there are three most popular ways for malefactors to have the Bip virus working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer networks.

If you access your inbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a ransomware item attached to them. So it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan file model². A Trojan is a program that gets into your PC pretending to be something different. Imagine, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some service. However, what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful agent that compromises your data. As the update wizard can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the files you’re downloading. The best thing is to trust the software companies’ official websites.

As for the peer-to-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 know what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded files with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How do I get rid of the Bip virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Bip virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your PC to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware³ can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes racketeers would unblock some of your files so you know that they really have the decryption tool. As Bip virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. However, the decoding tools are frequently updated, so the solution may soon arrive.

Of course, if the hackers do the job of encoding someone’s essential data, the hopeless person will most likely fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying a ransom 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 racketeers simply vanishing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.

The best safety measure 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 storage. Of course, that might be not enough. The most crucial thing could be that file you were working on when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the OS is rolled back.

Bip 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, Wdlo, Kqgs, Udla, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Bip are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: files become inaccessible, their extensions altered, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky people were able to decrypt the arrested files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption code to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But naturally, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.

How to avoid ransomware infiltration?

Bip ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, neither does any similar malware.

You can defend yourself from its infiltration taking several easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (how can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, check all elements of the suspicious email carefully. A hoax email will surely have a mistake.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often shared as a part of cracked products, most likely as a “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are difficult to tell from reliable ones, because trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try searching for information on this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such programs at all.
• And finally, to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful shield for your personal computer.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft⁴

There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft⁵.

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 system.

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 Bip 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

🤔 Is it possible to open “.id-*******.[email address].bip” files?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.id-*******.[email address].bip” files first. Then you will be able to open them.

🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?

Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. 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. The rest of the methods require patience.

🤔 You have advised using GridinSoft Anti-Malware to get rid of the Bip virus. Does it mean that all my files, currently encrypted, will be removed too?

No way! Unlike the ransomware program itself, the encrypted files do not jeopardize your system.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with active viruses. The virus that has attacked your computer is most likely still active and running scans from time to time to arrest any new files you might create on your PC after the infection. As it has been mentioned above, the Bip virus comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide hackers with easy access to your PC in the future.

🤔 What to do if the Bip malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

If that happened, you need to prepare a flash memory drive with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the cleaning. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or imported into your computer. To stop this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital programs to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the blocked files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You may have shared images or videos with your friends or family members. Simply ask them to send those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded 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 as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, phone, memory stick, etc.

HINT: You can employ data recovery utilities⁶ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing 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 eradicate the ransomware itself 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.

How to Remove BIP Ransomware & Recover PC

Name: BIP Virus

Description: BIP Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .id-*******.[email address].bip extension. So, you can't use them at all.

Operating System: Windows

Application Category: Virus

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