JULI Ransomware 🔐 (.JULI File) — Removal Guide

The Juli virus belongs to the VoidCrypt ransomware family. Malware of this type encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file, leaving the unlock-info.txt files in every folder with the encrypted files.

Juli virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A strictly accurate denomination for the Juli would be “a VoidCrypt family ransomware-type infection”.

The pattern of renaming is this: (victimID)(contact_email).Juli. In the course of encryption, a file named, for instance, “report.docx” will be changed to “report.docx.(MJ-ZR7893260415)([email protected]).Juli”.

In every directory with the encrypted files, a unlock-info.txt text file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can obtain this decryptor after contacting [email protected] through email. That is how they do it.

Juli outline:

The unlock-info.txt document accompanying the Juli malware states the following:

All your files have been encrypted!

All your files have been encrypted due to a security problem with your PC. If you want to restore them, write us to the e-mail; [email protected]
Write this ID in the title of your message : -
In case of no answer in 24 hours write us to theese e-mails: [email protected]
You have to pay for decryption in Bitcoins. The price depends on how fast you write to us. After payment we will send you the decryption tool that will decrypt all your files.

Free decryption as guarantee
Before paying you can send us up to 1 file for free decryption. The total size of files must be less than 1Mb (non archived), and files should not contain valuable information. (databases,backups, large excel sheets, etc.)

How to obtain Bitcoins
The easiest way to buy bitcoins is LocalBitcoins site. You have to register, click \'Buy bitcoins\', and select the seller by payment method and price.
hxxps://localbitcoins.com/buy_bitcoins
Also you can find other places to buy Bitcoins and beginners guide here:
hxxp://www.coindesk.com/information/how-can-i-buy-bitcoins/

Attention!
Do not rename encrypted files.
Do not try to decrypt your data using third party software, it may cause permanent data loss.
Decryption of your files with the help of third parties may cause increased price (they add their fee to our) or you can become a victim of a scam.

In the picture below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Juli looks like. Each filename has the “.Juli” extension appended to it.

How did Juli ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular methods for malefactors to have ransomware settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you access your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is strange to you, beware of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a malware file enclosed in them. Thus it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer-to-peer networks like BitTorrent 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. Our suggestion is that you use 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 done.

How do I get rid of the Juli virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Juli virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your PC to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Often tamperers would decrypt few of your files to prove that they really have the decryption program. Since Juli virus is a relatively new ransomware, anti-malware designers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Sure thing, if the criminals do the job of encoding victim’s critical files, the hopeless person will most likely fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports of racketeers just vanishing after getting the money without even writing back.

The best solution against ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud drive or at least on an external disk. Surely, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working on when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the OS restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Juli, that work similarly. For instance, Mppn, Uyit, Mbtf, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Juli are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: documents become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in each directory containing encrypted files.

Some lucky users were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware developers. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But naturally, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How сan I avert ransomware attack?

Juli ransomware has no superpower, neither does any similar malware.

You can protect your PC from its attack taking three easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown mailboxes with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (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 questionable letter carefully. A fake email will always have mistakes.
• Avoid using cracked or unknown programs. Trojans are often shared as a part of cracked software, possibly as a “patch” preventing the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy software, as trojans sometimes 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 software.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft³

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

🤔 Are the “.Juli” files accessible?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.Juli” 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. If not, there is still a function of System Restore but it needs a Restore Point to be previously saved. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 What to do if the Juli virus has blocked my computer 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 by email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or family members. Just ask them to post those images back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Web, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud disks might have all those files too.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, cellphone, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery programs⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware arrests the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you can do it only after you eradicate the ransomware itself 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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