DEADBYDAWN Virus 🔐 (.OGUTDONRE Files) — How to Remove?

The Deadbydawn virus falls under the ransomware type of malicious agent. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (images, documents, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, creating the README0.txt text files in each directory containing encrypted files.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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What is known about the Deadbydawn virus?

☝️ A strictly accurate designation for the Deadbydawn is “a ransomware-type malicious agent”.

Deadbydawn appends its extra .OGUtdoNRE extension to every file’s title. For example, an image named “photo.jpg” will be turned into “photo.jpg.OGUtdoNRE”. Just like the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.OGUtdoNRE”, and so forth.

In each folder containing the encoded files, a README0.txt file will be created. Actually, malware spawns 50 identical ransom notes, that differ by the number in the name (README0 – README50). It is a ransom money note. It contains information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. That is how they do it.

Deadbydawn Summary:

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

An example of encrypted .OGUtdoNRE files.

How did Deadbydawn ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most popular methods for evil-doers to have ransomware planted in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer networks.

If you access your inbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a malicious file enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan horse scheme. A Trojan is an object that gets into your machine pretending to be something legal. For example, you download an installer of some program you want or an update for some program. However, what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful agent that compromises your data. As the installation wizard can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software companies’ official websites.

As for the peer file transfer protocols like torrents 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 reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of the Deadbydawn virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Deadbydawn virus will probably install Vidar Stealer on your PC to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Sometimes criminals would decrypt few of your files to prove that they really have the decryption tool. Since Deadbydawn virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software engineers have not yet found a method to undo its work. However, the decoding tools are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Of course, if the tamperers do the job of encrypting victim’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to criminals gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still risky. After obtaining the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports of malefactors just vanishing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal safety measure against 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 disk. Obviously, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all happened. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the system is rolled back.

Deadbydawn is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. Examples of those are Miqe Virus, Mito Virus, Miza, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Deadbydawn are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: documents become encoded, their extensions altered, ransom notes emerge in every directory containing encoded files.

Some fortunate people were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free software provided by anti-malware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers mistakenly send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a tamperers’ tool to pull the money out of their victims.

Remove Deadbydawn with Gridinsoft Anti-Malware

We have also been using this software on our systems ever since, and it has always been successful in detecting viruses. It has blocked the most common Ransomware as shown from our tests with the software, and we assure you that it can remove Deadbydawn as well as other malware hiding on your computer.

To use Gridinsoft for remove malicious threats, follow the steps below:

1. Begin by downloading Gridinsoft Anti-Malware, accessible via the blue button below or directly from the official website gridinsoft.com.

2.Once the Gridinsoft setup file (setup-gridinsoft-fix.exe) is downloaded, execute it by clicking on the file.

3.Follow the installation setup wizard's instructions diligently.

4. Access the "Scan Tab" on the application's start screen and launch a comprehensive "Full Scan" to examine your entire computer. This inclusive scan encompasses the memory, startup items, the registry, services, drivers, and all files, ensuring that it detects malware hidden in all possible locations.

Be patient, as the scan duration depends on the number of files and your computer's hardware capabilities. Use this time to relax or attend to other tasks.

5. Upon completion, Anti-Malware will present a detailed report containing all the detected malicious items and threats on your PC.

6. Select all the identified items from the report and confidently click the "Clean Now" button. This action will safely remove the malicious files from your computer, transferring them to the secure quarantine zone of the anti-malware program to prevent any further harmful actions.

8. If prompted, restart your computer to finalize the full system scan procedure. This step is crucial to ensure thorough removal of any remaining threats. After the restart, Gridinsoft Anti-Malware will open and display a message confirming the completion of the scan.

Remember Gridinsoft offers a 6-day free trial. This means you can take advantage of the trial period at no cost to experience the full benefits of the software and prevent any future malware infections on your system. Embrace this opportunity to fortify your computer's security without any financial commitment.

Trojan Killer for “Deadbydawn ” removal on locked PC

In situations where it becomes impossible to download antivirus applications directly onto the infected computer due to malware blocking access to websites, an alternative solution is to utilize the Trojan Killer application.

There is a really little number of security tools that are able to be set up on the USB drives, and antiviruses that can do so in most cases require to obtain quite an expensive license. For this instance, I can recommend you to use another solution of GridinSoft - Trojan Killer Portable. It has a 14-days cost-free trial mode that offers the entire features of the paid version. This term will definitely be 100% enough to wipe malware out.

Trojan Killer is a valuable tool in your cybersecurity arsenal, helping you to effectively remove malware from infected computers. Now, we will walk you through the process of using Trojan Killer from a USB flash drive to scan and remove malware on an infected PC. Remember, always obtain permission to scan and remove malware from a computer that you do not own.

Step 1: Download & Install Trojan Killer on a Clean Computer:

1. Go to the official GridinSoft website (gridinsoft.com) and download Trojan Killer to a computer that is not infected.

2. Insert a USB flash drive into this computer.

3. Install Trojan Killer to the "removable drive" following the on-screen instructions.

4. Once the installation is complete, launch Trojan Killer.

Step 2: Update Signature Databases:

5. After launching Trojan Killer, ensure that your computer is connected to the Internet.

6. Click "Update" icon to download the latest signature databases, which will ensure the tool can detect the most recent threats.

Step 3: Scan the Infected PC:

7. Safely eject the USB flash drive from the clean computer.

8. Boot the infected computer to the Safe Mode.

9. Insert the USB flash drive.

10. Run tk.exe

11. Once the program is open, click on "Full Scan" to begin the malware scanning process.

Step 4: Remove Found Threats:

12. After the scan is complete, Trojan Killer will display a list of detected threats.

13. Click on "Cure PC!" to remove the identified malware from the infected PC.

14. Follow any additional on-screen prompts to complete the removal process.

Step 5: Restart Your Computer:

15. Once the threats are removed, click on "Restart PC" to reboot your computer.

16. Remove the USB flash drive from the infected computer.

Congratulations on effectively removing Deadbydawn and the concealed threats from your computer! You can now have peace of mind, knowing that they won't resurface again. Thanks to Gridinsoft's capabilities and commitment to cybersecurity, your system is now protected.

FAQ

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

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.OGUtdoNRE” files are decrypted.

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

Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. 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.

🤔 If GridinSoft deletes the Deadbydawn malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?

Absolutely not! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with active threats. The virus that has attacked your PC is probably still functional and running scans from time to time to arrest any new files you might create on your computer after the attack. As it has been said above, the Deadbydawn virus comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide criminals with easy access to your computer in the future.

🤔 What to do if the Deadbydawn ransomware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

In such an unfortunate situation, you need to prepare a flash memory card with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to execute the procedure. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system boots and encodes any new files created or imported into your computer. To stop this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential applications to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Many of the encoded files might still be at your disposal

• If you exchanged your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or family members. 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 downloading them again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, cellphone, external storage, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ data recovery programs¹ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you can do it only after you kill the virus with an anti-malware program.

1. Here are Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.