GoldenWolf42 File Virus 🔐 Ransomware Removal Guide

The Goldenwolf42 virus belongs under the Chaos ransomware family. Malware of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, text files, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, leaving the read_it.txt text files in every directory containing encrypted files.

What is Goldenwolf42 virus?

☝️ A scientifically correct description for the Goldenwolf42 would be “a Chaos family ransomware malicious agent”.

Goldenwolf42 will add its extra .GoldenWolf42 extension to the title of every encoded file. For instance, a file entitled “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.GoldenWolf42”. Likewise, the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.GoldenWolf42”, and so on.

In each folder containing the encoded files, a read_it.txt text file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the racketeers. That is how they do it.

Goldenwolf42 summary:

The read_it.txt file coming in package with the Goldenwolf42 malware provides the following dispiriting information:

All of your files have been encrypted
Your computer was infected with a ransomware virus. Your files have been encrypted and you won\'t
be able to decrypt them without our help. What can I do to get my files back? You can buy our special
decryption software, this software will allow you to recover all of your data and remove the
ransomware from your computer. The price for the software is £50 GBP. Payment can be made in Bitcoin, PayPal.
How do I pay, where do I get Bitcoin?
PayPal: hxxps://paypal.me/GoldenWolf42
Purchasing Bitcoin varies from country to country, you are best advised to do a quick google search
yourself  to find out how to buy Bitcoin.
Many of our customers have reported these sites to be fast and reliable:
Coinmama - hxxps://www.coinmama.com
Bitpanda - hxxps://www.bitpanda.com

Payment informationAmount: 0.0014 BTC
Bitcoin Address:  17CqMQFeuB3NTzJ2X28tfRmWaPyPQgvoHV
PayPal: hxxps://paypal.me/GoldenWolf42 (£50, Family And Friends)

In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Goldenwolf42 looks like. Each filename has the “.GoldenWolf42” extension added to it.

How did my computer get infected with Goldenwolf42 ransomware?

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

There are currently three most popular ways for criminals to have ransomware settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer networks.

If you access your mailbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a malicious file attached to them. So it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan file model. A Trojan is a program that gets into your PC disguised as something legal. For example, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some software. However, what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful program that encrypts your data. As the update wizard can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the stuff you’re downloading. The best way is to trust the software companies’ official websites.

As for the peer networks like torrent trackers or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. 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 directory containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Goldenwolf42 virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Goldenwolf42 virus will probably install Vidar Stealer on your machine to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Sometimes racketeers would decrypt some of your files so you know that they indeed have the decryption program. As Goldenwolf42 virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware instruments are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Of course, if the evildoers do the job of encoding someone’s critical files, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. However, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your data 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 disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The best solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud disk or at least on an external disk. Obviously, that might be insufficient. The most important thing could be that file you were working on when it all happened. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the system restoration.

Goldenwolf42 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, Weon, Qore, Xaro, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Goldenwolf42 are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become inaccessible, their extensions altered, ransom notes emerge in every folder containing encoded files.

Some lucky victims were able to decode the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware specialists. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim 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 avoid ransomware injection?

Goldenwolf42 ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can armour your computer from its infiltration within several easy steps:

• Never open any letters from unknown mailboxes with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the questionable email carefully. A hoax email will surely contain mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or unknown programs. Trojan viruses are often shared 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 reliable software, because trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try to find information about this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the best solution is not to use such software.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft²

Download Removal Tool.

Run the setup file.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

Click on “Clean Now”.

FAQ

🤔 How can I open “.GoldenWolf42” files?Is it possible to open“.GoldenWolf42” files?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.GoldenWolf42” files are decrypted.

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

If the “.GoldenWolf42” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. 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.

🤔 What actions should I take if the Goldenwolf42 virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Many of the encrypted files might still be at your disposal

• If you exchanged your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• 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 got any of your files from the Web, you can try doing it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, phone, flash memory, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery programs⁴ to get your lost data back since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you can do it only after you kill 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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