CARVER Virus 🔐 (.CARVER Files) — How to Remove?

The Carver virus belongs under the Phobos ransomware family. A harmful program of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (images, documents, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, leaving the info.txt text files in every directory with the encrypted files.

What is Carver virus?

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

The pattern of renaming is this: id[xxxxx].[contact_email].Carver. In the process of encryption, a file entitled, for example, “report.docx” will be renamed to “report.docx.id[9ECFA84E-3455].[[email protected]].Carver”.

In every folder that contains the encoded files, a info.txt file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the Carver developers. You can obtain this decryptor after contacting [email protected] by email. That is how they do it.

Carver abstract:

The info.txt file coming in package with the Carver malware states the following:

!!!All of your files are encrypted!!!
To decrypt them send e-mail to this address: [email protected].

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

How did my computer get infected with Carver ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most popular ways for criminals to have ransomware planted in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer file transfer.

If you open your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is unknown to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a malicious item enclosed in them. Thus it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like torrent trackers or eMule, the threat 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. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded files with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Carver virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Carver virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware³ can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes criminals would unblock some of your files so you know that they indeed have the decryption program. As Carver virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software designers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the anti-ransomware tools are frequently upgraded, so the solution may soon be available.

Understandably, if the criminals do the job of encoding victim’s essential data, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying to criminals gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After getting the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports about ransomware developers simply disappearing after getting the money without even writing back.

The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external storage. Of course, that might be insufficient. Your most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS restoration.

Carver 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, Qoqa, Qotr, Hhee, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Carver are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: documents become encoded, their extensions altered, ransom notes are created in every directory containing encoded 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 hackers accidentally send the decoding code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the victim to restore the files. But obviously, one should never expect such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a bandits’ tool to pull the money out of their victims.

How do I avert ransomware attack?

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

You can armour yourself from ransomware attack taking three easy steps:

• Ignore any letters 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 money prize draw without participating in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the questionable email carefully. A hoax email will always contain mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often distributed as an element of cracked products, possibly under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are very hard to tell from reliable software, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. Try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal solution 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”.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 Can I somehow access “.Carver” files?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.Carver” files first. Then you will be able to open them.

🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?

If the “.Carver” 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. The rest of the methods require patience.

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

🤔 And what should I do now?

Many of the blocked files might still be within your reach

• If you exchanged your important files by email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to send those pictures 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 networks pages, and cloud disks might have all those files too.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a notebook, cellphone, flash memory, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs⁶ to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the video below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you can do it only after you remove the ransomware itself with an anti-malware 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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