The Getanantivirus virus belongs under the Chaos ransomware family. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the computer (images, documents, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, creating the read_it.txt text files in each directory with the encrypted files.
What is known about the Getanantivirusvirus?
☝️ A scientifically accurate description for the Getanantivirus would be “a Chaos family ransomware malicious agent”.
Getanantivirus appends its extra .GetAnAntivirus extension to the name of every encrypted file. For example, an image named “photo.jpg” will be turned into “photo.jpg.GetAnAntivirus”. In the same manner, the Excel sheet named “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.GetAnAntivirus”, and so on.
In each directory with the encoded files, a read_it.txt file will appear. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the racketeers. That is it.
Getanantivirus outline:
| Name | Getanantivirus Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Chaos ransomware |
| Extension | .GetAnAntivirus |
| Ransomware note | read_it.txt |
| Detection | Trojan:Win32/RedLineStealer.PS!MTB, Ransom:Win32/Ciluf, MSIL/Agent.VIF |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .GetAnAntivirus extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Getanantivirus virus |
In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Getanantivirus looks like. Each filename has the “.GetAnAntivirus” extension added to it.
An example of encrypted .GetAnAntivirus files.
How did Getanantivirus ransomware end up on my PC?
There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.
Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for criminals to have the Getanantivirus virus acting in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer file transfer.
If you access your mailbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is strange to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a malicious file enclosed in them. Thus it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with emails like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan horse scheme2. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your machine pretending to be something legal. For instance, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some software. However, what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful program that corrupts your data. Since the installation file can have any title and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the files you’re downloading. The optimal thing is to use the software companies’ official websites.
As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like torrents 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 websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.
How do I get rid of the Getanantivirus virus?
It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Getanantivirus virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your PC to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Sometimes criminals would decode several of your files to prove that they do have the decryption tool. Since Getanantivirus virus is a relatively new ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the decoding tools are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.
Sure thing, if the tamperers do the job of encrypting someone’s critical data, the desperate person will most likely comply with their demands. Despite that, paying a ransom gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After obtaining the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports about criminals simply vanishing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.
The optimal safety measure against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external storage. Surely, that might be not enough. The most important thing could be that file you were working on when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the system restoration.
Getanantivirus 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, Hkgt, Lltt, Llqq, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Getanantivirus are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become inaccessible, their extensions altered, ransom notes appear in every directory containing encoded files.
Some fortunate users were able to decode the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption code to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the user to restore the files. But obviously, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.
How сan I avert ransomware attack?
Getanantivirus ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, neither does any similar malware.
You can armour your PC from ransomware attack taking several easy steps:
- Never open any letters from unknown senders 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 even taking part in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the dubious email carefully. A hoax email will always have mistakes.
- Avoid using cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often distributed as an element of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, untrusted programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy software, as trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try searching for information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way is not to use such software.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful shield for your PC.
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 computer.
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 Getanantivirus 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 can I open “.GetAnAntivirus” files?Are the “.GetAnAntivirus” files accessible?
Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.GetAnAntivirus” files you will not be able to access 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. All other solutions require time.
🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Getanantivirus virus?
Of course not. Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.
With the help of GridinSoft Anti-Malware, you can clean your system off the actual viruses. The malware that has infected your computer is probably still functional and running scans from time to time to encrypt any new files you might create on your computer after the infection. As it has been said above, the Getanantivirus malware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide malefactors with easy access to your PC in the future.
🤔 What actions should I take if the Getanantivirus virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.
In such an unfortunate situation, you need to prepare a memory stick with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to execute the procedure. The point is that the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or brought into your machine. To suppress this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential applications to run upon system start. Consider reading our manual on running Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What could help the situation right now?
Many of the blocked files might still be at your disposal
- If you exchanged 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. Simply ask them to post those images back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
- Your messengers, social networks 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, phone, external storage, etc.
HINT: You can employ data recovery programs5 to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes 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 be advised: you can do it only after you remove the virus with an antivirus program.
Also, you can contact the following governmental 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 GETANANTIVIRUS Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: GETANANTIVIRUS Virus
Description: GETANANTIVIRUS Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .GetAnAntivirus 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’s the list of Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
