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

The Deadnet virus falls under the MedusaLocker ransomware family. Ransomware of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its specific extension to every file, creating the HOW_TO_BACK_FILES.html files in every directory which contains the encrypted files.

What is Deadnet virus?

☝️ Deadnet is a MedusaLocker family ransomware-type virus.

Deadnet will append its own .deadnet extension to the title of every encrypted file. Depending on the sample, malware also appends a number at the end of the extension. In my case, the extension looked as “deadnet24”. Correspondingly, a file named “photo.jpg” was altered to “photo.jpg.deadnet24”. The Excel sheet named “table.xlsx” will be changed to “table.xlsx.deadnet24”, and so forth.

In every directory that contains the encrypted files, a HOW_TO_BACK_FILES.html text document will be found. It is a ransom money note. It contains information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the tamperers. That is pretty much the scheme of the crime.

Deadnet Summary:

In the screenshot below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Deadnet looks like. Each filename has the “.deadnet24” extension appended to it.

How did my machine catch Deadnet ransomware?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most popular methods for hackers to have the Deadnet virus acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer file transfer.

• Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan horse model. A Trojan is an object that gets into your PC pretending to be something legal. For instance, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some software. But what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful agent that corrupts your data. Since the update wizard can have any title and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The optimal way is to use the software companies’ official websites.
• As for the peer-to-peer networks like BitTorrent or eMule, the danger 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. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded files with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.

How to remove ransomware?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Deadnet virus will most likely deploy Vidar Stealer on your PC to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

How сan I avert ransomware infiltration?

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

You can protect your system from its infiltration taking three easy steps:

• Ignore any emails 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?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email carefully. A hoax letter will surely contain mistakes.
• Avoid using cracked or unknown programs. Trojans are often spreaded as an element of cracked products, most likely as a “patch” which prevents the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try to find information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the best way is not to use such programs at all.

FAQ

🤔 How can I open “.deadnet” files?Is it possible to open“.deadnet” files?

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

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

If the “.deadnet” 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. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

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

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the blocked data can be found elsewhere.

• If you sent or received 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 relatives. Simply ask them to send those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded 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 as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, mobile, memory stick, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs² to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, removing the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before you kill the ransomware itself with an antivirus program.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. Here are Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.