D0N Ransomware 🔐 (.D0N File) — Removal Guide

The D0n virus belongs under the Dharma ransomware family. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (images, text files, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, leaving the info.txt files in every folder with the encrypted files.

What is known about the D0n virus?

☝️ A scientifically accurate designation for the D0n is “a Dharma family ransomware malicious agent”.

The renaming will be executed according to the following pattern: id-xxxxx.[contact_email].d0n. As a part of encryption, a file named, for instance, “report.docx” will be changed to “report.docx.id-9ECFA84E.[[email protected]].d0n”.

In each directory that contains the encoded files, a info.txt text file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. You can obtain this decryptor after contacting [email protected] through email. That is how they do it.

D0n overview:

The info.txt document accompanying the D0n malware states the following:

all your data has been locked us
You want to return?
write email [email protected] or [email protected]

In the screenshot below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the D0n looks like. Each filename has the “.d0n” extension added to it.

How did D0n ransomware end up on my PC?

There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

Nowadays, there are three most popular methods for criminals to have the D0n virus acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you access your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a harmful file attached to them. Thus it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer-to-peer networks like torrents 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. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of the D0n virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the D0n virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware³ can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Often criminals would decrypt some of your files so you know that they really have the decryption program. As D0n virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decoding instruments are constantly updated, so the solution may soon arrive.

Of course, if the malefactors succeed in encrypting someone’s critical files, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still risky. After obtaining the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports about ransomware developers just vanishing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal safety measure against ransomware is to have aan OS 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. Your most important thing could be that one you were working upon when it all went down. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the OS restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides D0n, that work similarly. Examples of those are Mppn, Maos, Isal, and some others. The two major differences between them and the D0n are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: files become encrypted, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in every directory containing encrypted files.

Some fortunate people were able to decrypt the arrested files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decoding code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How do I avoid ransomware infection?

D0n ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can armour your PC from ransomware infiltration within three easy steps:

• Ignore any emails from unknown mailers 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, check all elements of the suspicious email with caution. A hoax email will surely have mistakes.
• Avoid using cracked or unknown software. Trojan viruses are often distributed as an element of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try searching for information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the best 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

🤔 Is it possible to open “.d0n” files?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.d0n” 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 “.d0n” 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 D0n malware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Many of the encrypted files might still be at your disposal

• If you sent or received your critical files through email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to post 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 networks pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a notebook, cellphone, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can employ file recovery utilities⁶ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the video below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but be advised: you can do it only after you kill the virus 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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