The Mmrac virus falls within the ransomware type of malicious agent. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, documents, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its specific extension to every file, creating the MRACReadMe.html text files in every directory containing encrypted files.
What is Mmrac?
☝️ A strictly correct description for the Mmrac would be “a ransomware infection”.
Mmrac adds its specific .MRAC extension to the name of each encoded file. For instance, a file named “photo.jpg” will be altered to “photo.jpg.MRAC”. Just like the Excel table named “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.MRAC”, and so forth.
In each directory that contains the encrypted files, a MRACReadMe.html text file will be found. It is a ransom money note. It contains information about 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 racketeers. That is how they do it.
Mmrac summary:
| Name | Mmrac Virus |
| Extension | .MRAC |
| Ransomware note | MRACReadMe.html |
| Detection | Win32/Filecoder.Conti.V, Win32/Packed.Themida.BRQ, Trojan:MSIL/Stelega.DN!MTB |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .MRAC extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Mmrac virus |
In the picture below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Mmrac looks like. Each filename has the “.MRAC” extension added to it.
An example of encrypted .MRAC files.
How did Mmrac ransomware end up on my PC?
There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.
There are currently three most popular ways for malefactors to have the Mmrac virus working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer file transfer.
If you open your inbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a malware file attached to them. So it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.
Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan horse model1. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your machine disguised as something else. Imagine, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some software. But what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful program that encodes your data. As the installation package can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the stuff you’re downloading. The best thing is to trust the software companies’ official websites.
As for the peer networks like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat 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 items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.
How to remove the Mmrac virus?
It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Mmrac virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware2 can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Often tamperers would unblock some of your files so you know that they indeed have the decryption program. Since Mmrac virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decryption tools are frequently updated, so the solution may soon arrive.
Understandably, if the criminals do the job of encoding victim’s critical files, the desperate person will most likely fulfill their demands. Nevertheless, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about ransomware developers simply vanishing after getting the ransom without even writing back.
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 storage. Surely, that might be insufficient. Your most important thing could be that file you were working on when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the system restoration.
There are other ransomware products, besides Mmrac, that work similarly. Examples of those are Xcmb, Dehd, Hudf, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Mmrac are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: files become blocked, their extensions altered, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encrypted files.
Some fortunate users were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-malware specialists. Sometimes the criminals accidentally send the decoding key to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How to avert ransomware attack?
Mmrac ransomware has no endless power, neither does any similar malware.
You can protect your system from its attack within several easy steps:
- Ignore any letters from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (how can you win in a lottery 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 dubious letter carefully. A hoax email will always contain mistakes.
- Do not use cracked or unknown programs. Trojans are often shared as a part of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try to find information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal solution is not to use such software.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a perfect defense for your system.
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 Mmrac 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
🤔 How can I open “.MRAC” files?Can I somehow access “.MRAC” files?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.MRAC” files are decrypted.
🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.MRAC” files ASAP. How can I do that?
If the “.MRAC” 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 Mmrac 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 system off the actual viruses. The virus that has attacked your device is probably still active and it scans your system periodically to arrest any new files you might create on your computer after the attack. As it has been said above, the Mmrac virus does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide hackers with easy access to your PC after some time.
🤔 What actions should I take if the Mmrac malware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.
In such a case, you need to prepare a flash memory card with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to do the cleaning. You see, the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encodes 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 booting Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What can I do right now?
Many of the blocked files might still be at your disposal
- If you exchanged your critical files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
- You may 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 Internet, you can try doing it again.
- Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud disks might have all those files as well.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, cellphone, memory stick, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can employ data recovery programs5 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before you remove the virus with an anti-malware 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 MMRAC Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: MMRAC Virus
Description: MMRAC Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .MRAC extension. So, you can't use them at all.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Virus
User Review
( votes)References
- You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
- You can read more on spyware variants and nature in the respective 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 Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
