BITENC Ransomware 🔐 (.BITENC File) — Removal Guide

The Bitenc virus belongs under the Mallox ransomware family. Harmful software of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (images, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, leaving the FILE RECOVERY.txt text files in each directory which contains the encrypted files.

What is Bitenc virus?

☝️ A strictly correct denomination for the Bitenc is “a Mallox family ransomware infection”.

Bitenc adds its own .bitenc extension to the name of every encoded file. For example, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be altered to “photo.jpg.bitenc”. Just like the Excel file named “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.bitenc”, and so forth.

In each directory that contains the encoded files, a FILE RECOVERY.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 a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the tamperers. That is how they do it.

Bitenc abstract:

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

How did my computer get infected with Bitenc ransomware?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for malefactors to have the Bitenc virus working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.

If you open your inbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a ransomware item attached to them. Thus it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the peer networks like BitTorrent or eMule, the danger 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. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.

How to remove the Bitenc virus?

It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your files, the Bitenc virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware³ can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often tamperers would decrypt several of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption tool. Since Bitenc virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software designers have not yet found a method to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decoding instruments are constantly upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Of course, if the criminals succeed in encrypting someone’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. However, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After obtaining the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports of criminals just vanishing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud drive or at least on an external disk. Of course, that might be insufficient. Your most important thing could be that file you were working upon when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the system is rolled back.

Bitenc 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, Mzop, Znto, Bpsm, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Bitenc 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 fortunate people were able to decode the blocked files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption key to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the victim to restore the files. But naturally, one should never expect such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a tamperers’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.

How сan I avoid ransomware attack?

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

You can defend your PC from its attack in three easy steps:

• Ignore any emails from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (how can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the questionable email with caution. A fake email will always contain a mistake.
• Avoid using cracked or unknown software. Trojan viruses are often shared as an element of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable ones, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal way is not to use such software.

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

🤔 How can I open “.bitenc” files?Are the “.bitenc” files accessible?

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

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

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. The rest of the methods require patience.

🤔 What to do if the Bitenc virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Some of the encrypted files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your critical files via 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 drives might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a portable device, cellphone, flash memory, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery utilities⁶ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before you remove the ransomware itself with an antivirus 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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