The Dagon locker virus belongs to the ransomware type of malicious agent. Ransomware of such sort encrypts all the data on your PC (photos, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file, leaving the README_TO_DECRYPT.html files in each directory containing encrypted files.
What is known about the Dagon lockervirus?
☝️ A scientifically accurate denomination for the Dagon locker would be “a ransomware infection”.
Dagon locker appends its extra .dagoned extension to the name of every encoded file. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be turned into “photo.jpg.dagoned”. In the same manner, the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will end up as “table.xlsx.dagoned”, and so on.
In every folder containing the encoded files, a README_TO_DECRYPT.html text document will appear. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the Dagon locker developers. That is it.
Dagon locker overview:
| Name | Dagon locker Virus |
| Extension | .dagoned |
| Ransomware note | README_TO_DECRYPT.html |
| Detection | Win32:FileInfector-C [Heur], Trojan:Win32/Raccoon.RH!MTB, Trojan:Win32/Vundo.OD |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .dagoned extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Dagon locker virus |
In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Dagon locker looks like. Each filename has the “.dagoned” extension appended to it.
That is how encrypted “.dagoned” files look.
How did my machine catch Dagon locker ransomware?
There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.
There are currently three most popular ways for evil-doers to have ransomware planted in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration 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 addresser is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a harmful item enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with letters like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan virus model1. A Trojan is an object that gets into your PC disguised as something different. For instance, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some service. But what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful agent that encodes your data. As the installation package can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the files you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software developers’ official websites.
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 Internet. You can never know 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 antivirus as soon as the downloading is complete.
How do I get rid of the Dagon locker virus?
It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your data, the Dagon locker virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware2 can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.
Sometimes criminals would decode few of your files to prove that they do have the decryption tool. Since Dagon locker virus is a relatively new ransomware, safety measures developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. Nevertheless, the anti-ransomware instruments are frequently upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.
Understandably, if the tamperers succeed in encrypting victim’s essential data, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to criminals gives no guarantee that you’re getting your files back. It is still dangerous. After getting the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about malefactors just disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.
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 disk. Surely, that might be insufficient. The most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all went down. But at least it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the OS is rolled back.
There are other ransomware products, besides Dagon locker, that work similarly. Examples of those are Mmvb, Eewt, Oflg, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Dagon locker are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes are created in every directory containing encrypted files.
Some lucky victims were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the racketeers mistakenly send the decryption key to the victims in the ransom note. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How to avert ransomware infiltration?
Dagon locker ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, neither does any similar malware.
You can defend your computer from ransomware infiltration in several easy steps:
- Ignore any letters from unknown mailers with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are expecting (can you win in a money prize draw without participating in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious letter carefully. A fake email will surely have mistakes.
- Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often shared as an element of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are difficult to tell from reliable software, because trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try to find information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal solution is not to use such programs at all.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a perfect armor for your PC.
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 system.
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 system for Dagon locker 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
🤔 How can I open “.dagoned” files?Are the “.dagoned” files accessible?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.dagoned” files are decrypted.
🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.dagoned” files ASAP. How can I do that?
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. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.
🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Dagon locker virus?
No way! Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.
With the help of GridinSoft Anti-Malware, you can clean your system off the actual viruses. The ransomware that has infiltrated your PC is probably still active and it scans your system from time to time to arrest any new files you might create on your PC after the attack. As it has been mentioned above, the Dagon locker malware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide malefactors with easy access to your PC after some time.
🤔 What should I do if the Dagon locker virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.
In such a case, you need to prepare a flash memory card with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the cleaning. The point is that the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or brought into your PC. To suppress this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital programs to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on running Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What can I do right now?
Many of the encoded 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 may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to send those pictures back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
- Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files as well.
- Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, mobile, flash memory, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs5 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to use PhotoRec for such a restoration, but remember: you can do it only after you eradicate the virus with an antivirus 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 DAGON LOCKER Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: DAGON LOCKER Virus
Description: DAGON LOCKER Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .dagoned extension. So, you can't use them at all.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Virus
User Review
( votes)References
- You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
- You can read more on spyware variants and nature in the respective 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 are Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
