DEEP Virus 🔐 [[email protected]].DEEP Files Ransomware

The Deep virus falls under the Phobos ransomware family. Harmful software of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the computer (images, text files, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file, creating the info.hta text files in every folder with the encrypted files.

What is Deep virus?

☝️ Deep is a Phobos family ransomware-type virus.

The scheme of renaming is the following: .[[email protected]].deep. As a part of encryption, a file named, for example, “report.docx” will be altered to “report.docx.id[9ECFA84E-3352].[[email protected]].deep”.

In each directory that contains the encrypted files, a info.hta text document will be created. It is a ransom money note. It contains information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the Deep developers. You can get this decoding tool after contacting [email protected], @HostUppp by email. That is basically the scheme of the felony.

Deep Overview:

The info.hta document coming in package with the Deep malware states the following:

All your files have been encrypted!


All your files have been encrypted due to a security problem with your PC. If you want to restore them, write us to the e-mail [email protected]
Write this ID in the title of your message -
If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, please contact us by Telegram.org account: @HostUppp
You have to pay for decryption in Bitcoins. The price depends on how fast you write to us. After payment we will send you the tool that will decrypt all your files.


Free decryption as guarantee
Before paying you can send us up to 3 files for free decryption. The total size of files must be less than 4Mb (non archived), and files should not contain valuable information. (databases,backups, large excel sheets, etc.)


How to obtain Bitcoins
The easiest way to buy bitcoins is LocalBitcoins site. You have to register, click \'Buy bitcoins\', and select the seller by payment method and price.
hxxps://localbitcoins.com/buy_bitcoins
Also you can find other places to buy Bitcoins and beginners guide here:
hxxp://www.coindesk.com/information/how-can-i-buy-bitcoins/


Attention!
Do not rename encrypted files.
Do not try to decrypt your data using third party software, it may cause permanent data loss.
Decryption of your files with the help of third parties may cause increased price (they add their fee to our) or you can become a victim of a scam.

In the picture below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Deep looks like. Each filename has the “.[[email protected]].deep” extension added to it.

How did my machine catch Deep ransomware?

There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for criminals to have ransomware working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.

• 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 sender is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a viral file attached to them. Thus it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with emails like these.
• Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan horse model. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your PC disguised as something else. For instance, you download an installer of some program you want or an update for some software. But what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful program that corrupts your data. Since the installation package can have any name and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the source of the things you’re downloading. The best way is to trust 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 Internet. You can never guess what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea 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 ransomware?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Deep virus will most likely install Vidar Stealer on your computer to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

How сan I avoid ransomware injection?

Deep ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can defend your PC from its attack in three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown mailers with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (how can you win in a lottery without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, check all elements of the suspicious letter carefully. A hoax email will always have a mistake.
• Avoid using cracked or unknown programs. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as a part of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best way is not to use such software.

FAQ

🤔 Is it possible to open “.[[email protected]].deep” files?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.[[email protected]].deep” files are decrypted.

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

If the “.[[email protected]].deep” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. 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.

🤔 What should I do if the Deep malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the encrypted files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files by email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• 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 got any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud disks might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, cellphone, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can employ file recovery utilities² to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a restoration, but be advised: you can do it only after you eradicate the virus with an antivirus program.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. Here’s the list of Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.