The Gamigin virus falls within the Makop ransomware family. Harmful software of this type encrypts all user’s data on the computer (images, text files, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, creating the readme-warning.txt text files in every folder with the encrypted files.
What is known about the Gamiginvirus?
☝️ A scientifically accurate denomination for the Gamigin would be “a Makop family ransomware malicious agent”.
The scheme of renaming is this: [victimID].[contact_email].gamigin. In the process of encryption, a file entitled, for instance, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx.[9B83AE23].[[email protected]].gamigin”.
In every directory that contains the encrypted files, a readme-warning.txt file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the Gamigin developers. You can obtain this tool after contacting [email protected] through email. That is how they do it.
Gamigin summary:
| Name | Gamigin Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Makop ransomware |
| Extension | .gamigin |
| Ransomware note | readme-warning.txt |
| Contact | [email protected] |
| Detection | Ransom:Win32/Lockbit.STB, Trojan:Win32/Raccoon.RD!MTB, Ransom:Win32/Redeemer!MSR |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .gamigin extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Gamigin virus |
The readme-warning.txt document accompanying the Gamigin ransomware provides the following discouraging information:
::: Greetings ::: Little FAQ: .1. Q: Whats Happen? A: Your files have been encrypted and now have the \"gamigin\" extension. The file structure was not damaged, we did everything possible so that this could not happen. .2. Q: How to recover files? A: If you wish to decrypt your files you will need to pay in bitcoins. .3. Q: What about guarantees? A: Its just a business. We absolutely do not care about you and your deals, except getting benefits. If we do not do our work and liabilities - nobody will cooperate with us. Its not in our interests. To check the ability of returning files, you can send to us any 2 files with SIMPLE extensions(jpg,xls,doc, etc... not databases!) and low sizes(max 1 mb), we will decrypt them and send back to you. That is our guarantee. .4. Q: How to contact with you? A: You can write us to our mailbox: [email protected] or [email protected] or [email protected] .5. Q: How will the decryption process proceed after payment? A: After payment we will send to you our scanner-decoder program and detailed instructions for use. With this program you will be able to decrypt all your encrypted files. .6. Q: If I don’t want to pay bad people like you? A: If you will not cooperate with our service - for us, its does not matter. But you will lose your time and data, cause only we have the private key. In practice - time is much more valuable than money. :::BEWARE::: DON\'T try to change encrypted files by yourself! If you will try to use any third party software for restoring your data or antivirus solutions - please make a backup for all encrypted files! Any changes in encrypted files may entail damage of the private key and, as result, the loss all data.
In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Gamigin looks like. Each filename has the “.gamigin” extension appended to it.
An example of encrypted .gamigin files.
How did my machine catch Gamigin ransomware?
There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.
Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for hackers to have the Gamigin virus acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer file transfer.
If you access your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is unknown to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a viral file attached to them. Thus it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with letters like these.
Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan file scheme2. A Trojan is a program that gets into your machine 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 unboxed reveals itself a harmful agent that compromises your data. As the update file can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the files you’re downloading. The best way is to use the software developers’ official websites.
As for the peer file transfer protocols like torrent trackers 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 directory containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.
How do I get rid of the Gamigin virus?
It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Gamigin virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.
Sometimes criminals would decode some of your files so you know that they do have the decryption program. Since Gamigin virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a way to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decoding tools are constantly upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.
Understandably, if the tamperers do the job of encrypting someone’s critical data, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. However, paying to criminals does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still risky. After receiving the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about criminals just vanishing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.
The best countermeasure to ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud storage or at least on an external storage. Surely, that might be not enough. The most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS is rolled back.
Gamigin 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 Hhwq, Oori, Ooxa, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Gamigin are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become inaccessible, their extensions altered, ransom notes are found in every directory containing encoded files.
Some lucky users were able to decode the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decoding key to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But obviously, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a tamperers’ instrument to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How сan I avert ransomware injection?
Gamigin ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, neither does any similar malware.
You can armour your system from its injection within three easy steps:
- Ignore any letters from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email with caution. A hoax letter will always have a mistake.
- Avoid using cracked or unknown programs. Trojans are often shared as a part of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, untrusted programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy ones, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. You can try searching for information about this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a perfect armor for your personal computer.
Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft3
There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft4.
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 PC.
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 system for Gamigin 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
🤔 Is it possible to open “.gamigin” files?
Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.gamigin” files first. Then you will be able to open them.
🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.gamigin” files ASAP. How can I do that?
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. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.
🤔 You have advised using GridinSoft Anti-Malware to get rid of the Gamigin virus. Does it mean that all my files, currently encrypted, will be removed too?
Of course not. Unlike the ransomware program itself, the encrypted files do not jeopardize your system.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware will remove active malware from your computer. The ransomware that has infiltrated your device is must be still active and launching checks periodically to encode any new files you might create on your PC after the initial attack. As it has been said above, the Gamigin malware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide criminals with easy access to your system after some time.
🤔 What to do if the Gamigin virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.
In such an unfortunate situation, you need to prepare a flash memory drive with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to do the cleaning. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or imported into your PC. To block this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital programs to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 And what should I do now?
Some of the blocked files can be located elsewhere.
- If you sent or received your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
- You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to post those images back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
- Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, mobile, flash memory, etc.
HINT: You can employ data recovery utilities5 to get your lost data back since ransomware arrests the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before you kill the ransomware itself with an anti-malware program.
Also, you can contact the following official fraud and scam sites to report this attack:
- In the United States: On Guard Online;
- In Canada: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre;
- In the United Kingdom: Action Fraud;
- In Australia: SCAMwatch;
- In New Zealand: Consumer Affairs Scams;
- In France: Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information;
- In Germany: Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik;
- In Ireland: An Garda Síochána;
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 SmithHow to Remove GAMIGIN Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: GAMIGIN Virus
Description: GAMIGIN Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .gamigin extension. So, you can't use them at all.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Virus
User Review
( votes)References
- My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
- You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
- GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
- More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
- Here are Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
