The Bl00dy virus falls under the Babuk ransomware family. Harmful software of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (images, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, creating the How To Restore Your Files.txt files in each directory containing encrypted files.
What is known about the Bl00dyvirus?
☝️ A scientifically correct description for the Bl00dy would be “a Babuk family ransomware-type infection”.
Bl00dy adds its specific .bl00dy extension to every file’s name. For instance, a file entitled “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.bl00dy”. Likewise, the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will end up as “table.xlsx.bl00dy”, and so on.
In each folder that contains the encrypted files, a How To Restore Your Files.txt file will be created. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. That is basically the scheme of the felony.
Bl00dy overview:
| Name | Bl00dy Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Babuk ransomware |
| Extension | .bl00dy |
| Ransomware note | How To Restore Your Files.txt |
| Detection | Trojan.Urelas, BScope.Trojan.CoinMiner, Trojan:Win32/Redline.KB!MTB |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .bl00dy extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Bl00dy virus |
In the picture below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Bl00dy looks like. Each filename has the “.bl00dy” extension appended to it.
An example of encrypted .bl00dy files.
How did Bl00dy ransomware end up on my PC?
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 system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.
If you access your mailbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is strange to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a harmful item enclosed in them. Thus it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.
Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan virus scheme2. A Trojan is an object that infiltrates into your computer disguised as something legal. For instance, you download an installer for some program you want or an update for some software. However, what is unboxed reveals itself a harmful program that encrypts your data. As the update file can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the stuff 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 Web. You can never guess 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 complete.
How to remove the Bl00dy virus?
It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Bl00dy virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Sometimes criminals would decrypt some of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption tool. As Bl00dy virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software engineers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. However, the decryption tools are frequently upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.
Understandably, if the tamperers do the job of encoding victim’s essential data, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. However, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After obtaining the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about criminals simply vanishing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.
The optimal solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud storage or at least on an external storage. Of course, that might be insufficient. The most important thing could be that file you were working upon when it all started. But at least it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the system restoration.
There are other ransomware products, besides Bl00dy, that work similarly. Examples of those are Ccza, Qqmt, Qqlo, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Bl00dy are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become blocked, their extensions altered, ransom notes are created in every folder containing encoded files.
Some fortunate users were able to decrypt the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the racketeers mistakenly send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But obviously, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How сan I avoid ransomware attack?
Bl00dy ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, neither does any similar malware.
You can armour yourself from its infiltration in several easy steps:
- Ignore any emails from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (how can you win in a lottery without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email carefully. A fake email will surely have mistakes.
- Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojans are often spreaded as an element of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. But untrusted programs are very hard to tell from reliable ones, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal solution is not to use such software.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a perfect armor for your personal computer.
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 PC.
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 Bl00dy 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 finished, 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 “.bl00dy” files?Can I somehow access “.bl00dy” files?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.bl00dy” files are decrypted.
🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?
If the “.bl00dy” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. 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. All other solutions require time.
🤔 You have advised using GridinSoft Anti-Malware to get rid of the Bl00dy virus. Does it mean that all my files, currently encrypted, will be removed too?
Absolutely not! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with real threats. The malware that has infiltrated your PC is probably still functional and launching checks every so often to arrest any new files you might create on your PC after the infection. As it has been said above, the Bl00dy ransomware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide malefactors with easy access to your PC in the future.
🤔 What to do if the Bl00dy ransomware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.
In such an unfortunate situation, you need to prepare a flash memory card with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to execute the procedure. The point is that the ransomware runs automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or brought into your machine. To block this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital applications to run upon system start. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What could help the situation right now?
Many of the encoded files might still be at your disposal
- If you sent or received your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
- You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to give 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 media pages, and cloud disks might have all those files too.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, mobile, flash memory, etc.
HINT: You can employ file recovery programs5 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 use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you remove 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 BL00DY Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: BL00DY Virus
Description: BL00DY Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .bl00dy 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.
