Security expert Tomas Meskauskas was the person who, for the first time, described the Bl virus, which falls under the Dharma ransomware family. Ransomware of such sort encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, documents, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file.
What is known about the Blvirus?
☝️ A scientifically accurate description for the Bl would be “a Dharma family ransomware-type malicious agent”.
The renaming will be done according to this scheme: Bl. During the encryption, a file entitled, for instance, “report.docx” will be altered to “report.docx.id-9ECFA84E.[[email protected]].Bl”.
The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can get this decryptor after contacting [email protected] and [email protected] via email. That is pretty much the scheme of the crime.
Bl summary:
| Name | Bl Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Dharma ransomware |
| Extension | .Bl |
| Contact | [email protected] and [email protected] |
| Detection | Ransom:MSIL/Khonsari.A, MSIL/TrojanDownloader.Agent.JTN, Trojan:MSIL/AgentTesla.LSL!MTB |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) get a .Bl extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Bl virus |
The note coming in package with the Bl malware states the following:
YOUR FILES ARE ENCRYPTED 1024 Don\'t worry, you can return all your files! If you want to restore them, write to the mail: [email protected] YOUR ID - If you have not answered by mail within 12 hours, write to us by another mail:[email protected] ATTENTION! We recommend you contact us directly to avoid overpaying agents Do not rename encrypted files. Do not try to decrypt your data using third party software, it may cause permanent data loss. Decryption of your files with the help of third parties may cause increased price (they add their fee to our) or you can become a victim of a scam.
In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Bl looks like. Each filename has the “.Bl” extension appended to it.
An example of encrypted .Bl files.
How did Bl ransomware end up on my PC?
There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.
There are currently three most exploited methods for malefactors to have ransomware settled in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer file transfer.
If you access your inbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is unknown to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a viral file attached to them. So it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with emails like these.
Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan virus scheme2. A Trojan is an object that gets into your PC pretending to be something legal. Imagine, 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 corrupts your data. As the update file can have any name and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The optimal thing is to use the software companies’ official websites.
As for the peer-to-peer networks like BitTorrent or eMule, the danger 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. 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 do I get rid of the Bl virus?
It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Bl virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.
Often criminals would decrypt several of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption program. Since Bl virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the decryption tools are constantly upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.
Of course, if the criminals succeed in encrypting victim’s essential data, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. Despite that, 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 key to the victim. There were reports of hackers just disappearing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.
The best solution against 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 important thing could be that file you were working on when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS is rolled back.
Bl 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, Vfgj, Zaqi, Loov, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Bl are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. 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 blocked files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-malware experts. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decoding code 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. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.
How сan I avert ransomware infection?
Bl ransomware has no endless power, so as any similar malware.
You can armour yourself from its attack taking three easy steps:
- Never open any letters 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?). If the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email carefully. A hoax email will always contain a mistake.
- Never use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often distributed as an element of cracked products, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, untrusted programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable software, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. You can try to find information about 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 files you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful shield for your PC.
Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft3
There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft4.
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 computer for Bl 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 “.Bl” files?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.Bl” files are decrypted.
🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.Bl” files ASAP. How can I do that?
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.
🤔 If GridinSoft deletes the Bl malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?
No way! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware will remove active viruses from your computer. The ransomware that has attacked your system is probably still functional and it scans your system every so often to encode any new files you might create on your PC after the initial attack. As it has been mentioned above, the Bl virus comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide criminals with easy access to your PC after some time.
🤔 What to do if the Bl virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.
If that happened, you need to have a flash memory drive with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to do the cleaning. The point is that 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 essential programs to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on running Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 And what should I do now?
Many of the encoded files might still be at your disposal
- If you exchanged your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
- You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Just 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 media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files as well.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, phone, flash memory, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can use file recovery utilities5 to get your lost data back since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to use PhotoRec for such a restoration, but be advised: you can do it only after you remove 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.
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Brendan SmithHow to Remove BL Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: BL Virus
Description: BL Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .Bl extension. So, you can't use them at all.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Virus
User Review
( votes)References
- My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
- 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’s the list of Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
