DIVSOUTH Virus File of Ransomware — How to remove MedusaLocker?

The Divsouth virus was originally discovered by virus analyst xiaopao, and belongs to the MedusaLocker ransomware family. This ransomware encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc), adds its specific extension to every file, and creates the Recovery_Instructions.html files in every folder which contains 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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Divsouth Virus

☝️ Divsouth can be correctly identify as a MedusaLocker ransomware-type infection.

Divsouth adds its specific “.divsouth” extension to the name of every file. For example, your photo named as “my_photo.jpeg” will be transformed into “my_photo.jpeg.divsouth“, report in Excel tables named “report.xlsx” – to “report.xlsx.divsouth“, and so on.

Recovery_Instructions.html file, which can be found in every folder that contains the encrypted files, is a ransom money note. Inside of it, you can find information about ways of contacting Divsouth ransomware developers, and some other info. Inside of the ransom note, there is usually an instruction saying about purchasing the decryption tool. This decryption tool is created by ransomware developers, and can be obtained through the email, contacting support@welchallym.com, support@bigweatherg.com.

Here is a summary for the Divsouth:

The Recovery_Instructions.html file by the Divsouth ransomware states the following frustrating information:

YOUR PERSONAL ID:
*******
/!\ YOUR COMPANY NETWORK HAS BEEN PENETRATED /!\
ALL YOUR IMPORTANT FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED!

 

YOUR FILES ARE SAFE! JUST MODIFIED ONLY. (RSA+AES)

 

ANY ATTEMPT TO RESTORE YOUR FILES WITH THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE
WILL PERMENANTLY DESTROY YOUR FILE.
DO NOT MODIFY ENCRYPTED FILES. DO NOT RENAME ENCRYPTED FILES.

 

NO SOFTWARE AVAILABLE ON INTERNET CAN HELP YOU. WE ONLY HAVE
SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM.

 

WE GATHERED HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL/PERSORNAL DATA. THESE DATA
ARE CURRENTLY STORED ON A PRIVATE SERVER. THIS SERVER WILL BE
IMMEDIATELY DESTROYED AFTER YOUR PAYMENT. WE ONLY SEEK MONEY
AND DO NOT WANT TO DAMAGE YOUR REPUTATION. IF YOU DECIDE TO
NOT PAY, WE WILL RELEASE THIS DATA TO PUBLIC OR RE-SELLER.

 

Important! Emails from us may come to you in spam, so please check your spam!.

 

Your files are uploaded to the cloud. if you refuse to pay, we will put your data up for auction
YOU WILL CAN SEND US 2-3 NON-IMPORTANT FILES AND WE WILL
DECRYPT IT FOR FREE TO PROVE WE ARE ABLE TO GIVE YOUR FILES
BACK.

 

Contact us for price and get decryption software.

 

hxxp://gvlay6u4g53rxdi5.onion/8-wnO3bDcxIf8DcvdLyfIYTpkXq8pHVAOt-cWj8EmaW4okSxu9UDdfOVmRbtW4l7ceS
* Note that this server is available via Tor browser only

 

Follow the instructions to open the link:
1. Type the addres "hxxps://www.torproject.org" in your Internet browser. It opens the Tor site.
2. Press "Download Tor", then press "Download Tor Browser Bundle", install and run it.
3. Now you have Tor browser. In the Tor Browser open "URL".
4. Start a chat and follow the further instructions.

 

If you can't use the above link, use the email:
support@welchallym.com
support@bigweatherg.com

MAKE CONTACT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. YOUR DECRYPTION KEY IS ONLY STORED
TEMPORARLY. IF YOU DON\'T CONTACT US WITHIN 72 HOURS, PRICE WILL BE HIGHER.

The image below gives a clear vision of how the files with “.divsouth” extension look like:

Example of encrypted .divsouth files

DIVSOUTH – How did I get MedusaLocker?

When the MedusaLocker ransomware is mounted to your PC, it will do different startup routines to prepare your computer for encryption

Step 1

MedusaLocker will create the Registry value EnableLinkedConnections under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System registry key and also established it to 1. This is done to make certain mapped drives come also in a UAC launched process.

Step 2

Next, ransomware will restart the LanmanWorkstation service in order to make certain that Windows networking is running which mapped network drives come.

Step 3

MedusaLocker will seek as well as end the complying with procedures in order to shut down security programs and to make certain all data files are closed and easily accessible for encrypting:

wrapper, DefWatch, ccEvtMgr, ccSetMgr, SavRoam, sqlservr, sqlagent, sqladhlp, 
Culserver, RTVscan, sqlbrowser, SQLADHLP, QBIDPService, Intuit.QuickBooks.FCS, 
QBCFMonitorService, sqlwriter, msmdsrv, tomcat6, zhudongfangyu, SQLADHLP, 
vmware-usbarbitator64, vmware-converter, dbsrv12, dbeng8, wxServer.exe, 
wxServerView, sqlservr.exe, sqlmangr.exe, RAgui.exe, supervise.exe, Culture.exe, 
RTVscan.exe, Defwatch.exe, sqlbrowser.exe, winword.exe, QBW32.exe, QBDBMgr.exe, 
qbupdate.exe, QBCFMonitorService.exe, axlbridge.exe, QBIDPService.exe, httpd.exe, 
fdlauncher.exe, MsDtSrvr.exe, tomcat6.exe, java.exe, 360se.exe, 360doctor.exe, 
wdswfsafe.exe, fdlauncher.exe, fdhost.exe, GDscan.exe, ZhuDongFangYu.exe

Step 4

Finally, it gets rid of the Shadow Volume Copies to ensure that they can not be made use of to bring back files, gets rid of back-ups made with Windows back-up, and also disables the Windows automatic start-up repair work making use of the complying with commands:

vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet
wmic.exe SHADOWCOPY /nointeractive
bcdedit.exe /set {default} recoveryenabled No
bcdedit.exe /set {default} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures
wbadmin DELETE SYSTEMSTATEBACKUP
wbadmin DELETE SYSTEMSTATEBACKUP -deleteOldest

Step 5

MedusaLocker will currently begin to scan the computer’s drives for files to encrypt. When encrypting documents, it will miss all data that have the extensions.exe,. dll,. sys,. ini,. lnk,. rdp,. encrypted (or other expansion utilized for encrypted files) in addition to data in the adhering to folders.

USERPROFILE
PROGRAMFILES(x86)
ProgramData
\AppData
WINDIR
\Application Data
\Program Files
\Users\All Users
\Windows
\intel
\nvidia

When encrypting documents, it will use AES file encryption to encrypt the data, and afterward the AES key will be encrypted by a RSA-2048 public key consisted of in the virus executable.

For every data that is encrypted, it will add among the adhering to extensions depending on the version of the ransomware.

• .encrypted
• .bomber
• .boroff
• .breakingbad
• .locker16
• .newlock
• .nlocker
• .skynet

When done, the ransomware will rest for 60 secs and afterward scan the drives again for new files to encrypt.

When mounted, this ransomware will likewise duplicate itself to %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\svchostt.exe and also create a scheduled job that releases the program every 30 mins in order to continue to be resident.

How did I get Divsouth ransomware on my computer?

That was a huge number of different ways of ransomware injection.

However, nowadays there are only two ways of Divsouth injection – email spam and trojans. You may see a lot of messages on your email, stating that you need to pay different bills or to get your parcel from the local FedEx department. But all such messages are sent from unknown email addresses, not from familiar official emails of these companies. All such letters contain the attached file, which is used as a ransomware carrier. If you open this file – your system will get infected by Divsouth.

In case of trojans presence, you will be offered to download and install ransomware on your PC under the guise of something legit, like a Chrome update, or update for the software you are storing on your computer. Sometimes, trojan viruses can be masked as legit programs, and ransomware will be offered for download as an important update, or a big pack of extensions which are essential for proper program functioning.

There is also the third way of ransomware injection, however, it becomes less and less popular day-to-day. I am talking about peering networks, such as torrents or eMule. No one can control which files are packed in the seeding, so you can discover a huge pack of different malware after downloading. If circumstances force you to download something from peering networks – scan every downloaded folder or archive with antivirus software.

How to remove Divsouth virus?

In addition to encode a victim’s files, the Divsouth virus has also started to install the Azorult Spyware on system to steal account credentials, cryptocurrency wallets, desktop files, and more.

To ensure the user that ransomware distributors really have the decryption tool, they may offer to decrypt several encrypted files. And they are the single owners of this decryption program: Divsouth ransomware is a completely new type, so there is no legit program from anti-malware vendors, which can decrypt your files. But such a situation is in momentum: decryption tools are updating every month.

However, paying the ransom is a bad decision, too. There is no guarantee that Divsouth ransomware developers will send you the decryption tool and a proper decryption key. And there are a lot of cases when ransomware distributors deceived their victims, sending the wrong key or even nothing. In the majority of cases, there is a way to recover your files for free. Search for available backups, and restore your system using it. Of course, there is a chance that the backup you found is too old, and does not contain a lot of files you need. But, at least you will be sure that there is no malware in your system. However, to ensure that there are no malicious programs in your system after the backup, you need to scan your PC with anti-malware software.

Divsouth ransomware is not unique. There are more ransomware of this type: Foo, Axi, Cryptpethya. These examples of ransomware act in a similar way: encrypting your files, adding a specific extension, and leaving a great number of ransom money notes in every folder. But there are two things which make difference between these ransomware – cryptography algorithm, which is used for file encryption, and ransom amount . In some cases, victims are able to decrypt their files without any payments, just using free solutions produced by several anti-malware vendors, or even with the decryption tool which is offered by ransomware creators. The last scenario is possible when ransomware distributors have typed your decryption key inside of a ransom money note. However, as you can already guess, such luck is a very rare thing. Ransomware is created for money gaining, not for jokes or scaring.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft²

The is an excellent way to deal with recognizing and removing threats – using Gridinsoft Anti-Malware. This program will scan your PC, find and neutralize all suspicious processes³.

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 computer for Divsouth 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 completed, 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 сan I avoid ransomware attack?

Divsouth ransomware doesn’t have a superpower.

You can easily protect yourself from its injection in several easy steps :

• Ignore all emails from unknown mailboxes with a strange unknown address, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (can you win in a lottery without taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, check carefully all elements of the suspicious letter. A fake email will surely contain a mistake.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojans are often distributed as a part of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” which prevents the license check. But untrusted programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy software, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. You can try to find information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best solution is not to use such programs.
• And to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will surely be a perfect shield for your personal computer.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
3. More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison