BOYKA Ransomware (.BoYkA File) — Removal Guide

The BoYkA virus falls under the ransomware type of malicious agent. A harmful program of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (images, text files, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file.

What is known about the BoYkA Virus?

☝️ A scientifically accurate designation for the Boyka would be “a ransomware-type malicious agent”.

Boyka appends its extra .BoYkA extension to every file’s name. For example, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be renamed to “photo.jpg.BoYkA”. Likewise, the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will be changed to “table.xlsx.BoYkA”, and so forth.

The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the racketeers. That is it.

Boyka summary:

The note accompanying the Boyka ransomware provides the following frustrating information:

ATTENTION!!!
 
All your files have been encrypted!
Files can only be decrypted with the keys that have been generated for your PC!
The amount you have to pay to get the keys is 0.06 Bitcoin
We do not accept another payment method!
 
This is where you need to send bitcoin:
bc1q6x4kev9pefay37uctaq9ggqmxrg7a6txn2tanf
 
After sending, contact us at this email address: [email protected]
With this subject: *****************
 
Use the sites below to quickly buy bitcoin
www.localbitcoins.com
www.paxful.com
www.coinmama.com
 
Another list of sites can be found here:
https://bitcoin.org/en/exchanges
 
After confirming the payment, you will receive a tutorial and the keys for decrypting the files.
IF YOU DON\'T CONTACT ME OR PAY ME IN 5 DAYS, THE KEYS WILL BE DELETED.

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

How did Boyka ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

Nowadays, there are three most popular ways for criminals to have the Boyka virus working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you open your inbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a harmful item attached to them. Therefore, it is even more dangerous to download 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 Internet. You can never guess what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Boyka virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Boyka virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your PC to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware² can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Sometimes racketeers would decode some of your files to prove that they really have the decryption tool. As Boyka virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a method to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decoding tools are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Understandably, if the tamperers succeed in encoding victim’s essential files, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. However, paying a ransom gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After getting the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports of hackers just vanishing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud disk or at least on an external drive. Obviously, that might be insufficient. Your most important thing could be that file you were working on when it all went down. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Boyka, that work similarly. Examples of those are Eiur, Hkgt, Llqq, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Boyka are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: documents become inaccessible, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in every directory containing encoded files.

Some fortunate users were able to decode the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware developers. Sometimes the criminals mistakenly send the decryption key to the victims in the ransom note. Such an epic fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a tamperers’ tool to pull the money out of their victims.

How сan I avert ransomware infiltration?

Boyka ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can armour yourself from its infiltration within several easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown mailboxes 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?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, check all elements of the questionable letter with caution. A hoax letter will surely have mistakes.
• Avoid using cracked or unknown software. Trojan viruses are often shared as a part of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” which prevents the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are difficult to tell from reliable software, as trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try searching for information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best solution is not to use such software.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft³

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”.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 How can I open “.BoYkA” files?Can I somehow access “.BoYkA” files?

Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.BoYkA” 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. Otherwise, you might try to employ System Restore. The only question is whether you have saved any Restore Points that would be helpful now. All other solutions require time.

🤔 What actions should I take if the Boyka virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Many of the blocked files might still be within your reach

• If you sent or received your important files via email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You may have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to send those images 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 disks might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, cellphone, external storage, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can use data recovery programs⁵ to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: 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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