DR RANSOMWARE Virus Files of Ransomware — How to remove virus?

The Dr ransomware virus belongs under the Dharma ransomware family. A harmful program of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (photos, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, leaving the info.txt text files in each folder which contains the encrypted files.

Dr ransomware virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A scientifically correct description for the Dr ransomware would be “a Dharma family ransomware infection”.

The renaming will be executed by this scheme: id********.[email_address].dr. After the encryption, a file named, for example, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx.id-124709BF00.[[email protected]].dr”.

In every directory with the encoded files, a info.txt file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can obtain this decoding tool after contacting [email protected] via email. That is it.

Dr ransomware abstract:
Name Dr ransomware Virus
Ransomware family1 Dharma ransomware
Extension .id********.[email_address].dr
Ransomware note info.txt
Contact [email protected]
Detection Adware.NeoBar.Generic, Trojan:Win32/Tnega.PKD!MTB, Win32/TrojanDownloader.Agent.DGM
Symptoms Your files (photos, videos, documents) get a .id********.[email_address].dr extension and you can’t open them.
Fix Tool See If Your System Has Been Affected by Dr ransomware virus

In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Dr ransomware looks like. Each filename has the “.id********.[email_address].dr” extension added to it.

Dr ransomware Virus - encrypted .id********.[email_address].dr files

An example of encrypted .id********.[email_address].dr files.

How did my machine catch Dr ransomware ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most popular methods for tamperers to have ransomware settled in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer networks.

If you open your inbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a harmful file enclosed in them. Thus it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer-to-peer networks like torrents 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. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.

How to remove the Dr ransomware virus?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Dr ransomware virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Often racketeers would decrypt several of your files so you know that they really have the decryption tool. Since Dr ransomware virus is a relatively recent ransomware, safety measures engineers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. However, the decoding tools are frequently updated, so the solution may soon arrive.

Of course, if the malefactors do the job of encrypting someone’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 blocked information back. It is still risky. After receiving the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports of racketeers simply disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud disk or at least on an external disk. Of course, that might be not enough. 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 advisable to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the OS restoration.

Dr ransomware is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. For instance, Nnqp, Mljx, Hudf, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Dr ransomware are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become inaccessible, their extensions altered, ransom notes are created in every directory containing encoded files.

Some lucky people were able to decrypt the blocked files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-malware experts. Sometimes the criminals mistakenly send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom note. 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 bandits’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.

How сan I avert ransomware infection?

Dr ransomware ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can armour your system from its injection taking three easy steps:

  • Never open any letters 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 money prize draw without participating in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the dubious email with caution. A fake letter will always have mistakes.
  • Avoid using cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often shared as a part of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” which prevents the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.
Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft3

Download Removal Tool.

Run the setup file.

Run Setup.exe
GridinSoft Anti-Malware Setup

Press “Install” button.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware Install

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware Splash-Screen

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware Scanning

Click on “Clean Now”.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware Scan Result

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 Are the “.id********.[email_address].dr” files accessible?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.id********.[email_address].dr” files first. Then you will be able to open them.

🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?

It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. Otherwise, you might try to employ System Restore. The only question is whether you have saved any Restore Points that would be helpful now. The rest of the methods require patience.

🤔 What should I do if the Dr ransomware malware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Many of the encoded files might still be at your disposal

  • If you exchanged your important files via email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
  • You may 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 Internet, you can try downloading them again.
  • Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud storage might have all those files too.
  • Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, cellphone, flash memory, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs5 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the video below, you can see how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you kill the virus with an antivirus program.

Also, you can contact the following official fraud and scam sites to report this attack:

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 Smith

References

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

About the author

Brendan Smith

Cybersecurity analyst covering malware families, suspicious files, and detection alerts. Brendan focuses on clear explanations of what a warning means, when it may be a false positive, and which cleanup steps are appropriate.

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