CYBER_PUFFIN Ransomware 🔐 (.CYBER_PUFFIN File) — Removal Guide

The Cyber_puffin virus belongs with the ransomware type of malicious agent. A harmful program of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (photos, text files, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its specific extension to every file, leaving the Cyber_Puffin.txt text files in each folder containing encrypted files.

What is Cyber_puffin virus?

☝️ A strictly correct designation for the Cyber_puffin is “a ransomware-type infection”.

Cyber_puffin adds its specific .Cyber_Puffin extension to the name of each encrypted file. For instance, a file entitled “photo.jpg” will be turned into “photo.jpg.Cyber_Puffin”. Just like the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will be altered to “table.xlsx.Cyber_Puffin”, and so forth.

In every folder containing the encrypted files, a Cyber_Puffin.txt text file will be created. It is a ransom money note. It contains 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 racketeers. That is it.

Cyber_puffin outline:

In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Cyber_puffin looks like. Each filename has the “.Cyber_Puffin” extension added to it.

How did my machine catch Cyber_puffin ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most exploited ways for malefactors to have the Cyber_puffin virus acting in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer networks.

If you access your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is unknown to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a malicious item attached to them. Therefore, it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer-to-peer networks like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. 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 directory containing the downloaded items with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is complete.

How to remove the Cyber_puffin virus?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Cyber_puffin virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often criminals would decode several of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption program. Since Cyber_puffin virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. However, the anti-ransomware instruments are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Sure thing, if the tamperers do the job of encoding someone’s essential data, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still dangerous. After getting the money, 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 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. Of course, that might be not enough. The most important thing could be that file you were working on 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 system is rolled back.

There are other ransomware products, besides Cyber_puffin, that work similarly. For instance, Mmvb, Eewt, Mmdt, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Cyber_puffin are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: files become blocked, their extensions altered, ransom notes are found in each directory containing encoded files.

Some lucky victims were able to decrypt the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware developers. Sometimes the hackers accidentally send the decoding key to the victims in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the user to restore the files. But naturally, one should never rely on 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 infection?

Cyber_puffin ransomware has no endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can armour your system from its attack within three easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown mailers with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (can you win in a lottery without even taking part in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the dubious letter carefully. A fake letter will always contain a mistake.
• Never use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojans are often shared as an element of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are difficult to distinguish from trustworthy software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. You can try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft²

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 “.Cyber_Puffin” files?Is it possible to open“.Cyber_Puffin” files?

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

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

If the “.Cyber_Puffin” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. If not, there is still a function of System Restore but it needs a Restore Point to be previously saved. All other solutions require time.

🤔 What should I do if the Cyber_puffin virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Many of the blocked files might still be within your reach

• If you exchanged your critical files via 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 give those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a laptop, phone, memory stick, etc.

HINT: You can use data recovery utilities⁴ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the video below, you can see how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you eradicate the virus 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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