KOXIC Virus 🔐 (.KOXIC_PLCAW Files) — How to Remove?

The Koxic virus belongs to the ransomware type of malicious agent. Harmful software of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the computer (photos, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its specific extension to every file, creating the WANNA_RECOVER_KOXIC_FILEZ_PLCAW.txt files in each folder containing encrypted files.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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Koxic virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A scientifically accurate denomination for the Koxic would be “a ransomware-type malicious agent”.

Koxic adds its own .KOXIC_PLCAW extension to the title of each encoded file. For instance, a file named “photo.jpg” will be renamed to “photo.jpg.KOXIC_PLCAW”. Likewise, the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.KOXIC_PLCAW”, and so on.

In each directory that contains the encoded files, a WANNA_RECOVER_KOXIC_FILEZ_PLCAW.txt text file will be found. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the Koxic developers. You can obtain this tool after contacting koxic@cock.li through email. That is it.

Koxic abstract:

The WANNA_RECOVER_KOXIC_FILEZ_PLCAW.txt file accompanying the Koxic malware provides the following discouraging information:

Hello, all your important files are encrypted and sensitive data leaked.

To decrypt your files and avoid other unpleasant things you need to buy special decryption tool.
Contact us via koxic@cock.li or koxic@protonmail.com and tell your UserID.
This is the only way to decrypt your files and avoid publi? disclosure of data .
Do not try to use third party software (it may corrupt your files).
We respect black market rules. We can confirm the ability to decrypt your files (and of course the evidence of the leak ),
Send us several unimportant files (do not try to deceive us).

Your UserID (send it to us for decryption):
-

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

An example of encrypted .KOXIC_PLCAW files.

How did my machine catch Koxic ransomware?

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

There are currently three most popular ways for malefactors to have the Koxic virus working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer networks.

If you open your inbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is strange to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a malicious item enclosed in them. Thus it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with letters like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan file model¹. A Trojan is an object that gets into your PC disguised as something legal. For instance, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some program. However, what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful agent that encodes your data. As the update wizard can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the files you’re downloading. The optimal thing is to trust the software developers’ official websites.

As for the peer file transfer protocols 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 directory containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of the Koxic virus?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Koxic virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware² can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Sometimes criminals would decode few of your files to prove that they really have the decryption tool. As Koxic virus is a relatively new ransomware, safety measures designers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. However, the decryption instruments are constantly upgraded, so the solution may soon be available.

Sure thing, if the malefactors succeed in encrypting someone’s essential files, the hopeless person will most likely comply with their demands. However, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports of hackers simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

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

There are other ransomware products, besides Koxic, that work similarly. Examples of those are Oflg, Ofww, Aawt, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Koxic are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: documents become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky people were able to decrypt the arrested files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-malware experts. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decoding code to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a bandits’ tool to pull the money out of their victims.

How do I avoid ransomware infiltration?

Koxic ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, neither does any similar malware.

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

• Ignore any emails from unknown mailboxes with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (can you win in a money prize draw without participating in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, check all elements of the suspicious letter with caution. A fake email will surely contain mistakes.
• Avoid using cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often shared as an element of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try to find information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the best solution is not to use such programs at all.
• And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a powerful defense 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 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 Koxic 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 finished, 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.

FAQ

🤔 How can I open “.KOXIC_PLCAW” files?Are the “.KOXIC_PLCAW” files accessible?

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

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

If the “.KOXIC_PLCAW” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. In case you haven’t, there is still a chance that you do have a Restore Point from some time ago to roll back the whole system to the moment when it had no virus yet, but already had your files. The rest of the methods require patience.

🤔 If GridinSoft deletes the Koxic malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?

Absolutely not! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.

With the help of GridinSoft Anti-Malware, you can clean your computer off the actual viruses. The malware that has attacked your system 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 mentioned above, the Koxic virus does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide malefactors with easy access to your PC after some time.

🤔 What should I do if the Koxic virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.

In such an unfortunate situation, you need to have a memory stick with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the procedure. The point is that the ransomware starts automatically as the system launches and encrypts any new files created or imported into your machine. To block this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential applications to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on running Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the blocked data can be found elsewhere.

• If you sent or received your critical 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. Simply ask them to send those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud disks might have all those files too.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a notebook, cellphone, memory stick, etc.

HINT: You can employ file recovery utilities⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you can do it only after you remove the virus with an antivirus 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.

How to Remove KOXIC Ransomware & Recover PC

Name: KOXIC Virus

Description: KOXIC Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .KOXIC_PLCAW extension. So, you can't use them at all.

Operating System: Windows

Application Category: Virus

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