MURK Files (MURK Ransomware) — How to remove virus?

The Murk virus belongs under the Phobos ransomware family. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (images, text files, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, leaving the info.txt text files in each directory which contains the encrypted files.

What is known about the Murk virus?

☝️ A scientifically correct denomination for the Murk is “a Phobos family ransomware-type malicious agent”.

The renaming will be executed by this scheme: [victim’s_ID].[email_address].MURK. In the course of encryption, a file entitled, for instance, “report.docx” will be altered to “report.docx.id[9ECFA84E-3308].[[email protected]].MURK”.

In each directory containing the encoded files, a info.txt file will appear. It is a ransom money note. Therein you can find information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. You can obtain this decoding tool after contacting [email protected] via email. That is it.

Murk overview:

The info.txt document accompanying the Murk ransomware 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 this e-mail:[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 tool that will decrypt all your files.
Free decryption as guarantee
Before paying you can send us up to 5 files for free decryption. The total size of files must be less than 4Mb (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 folder with files encrypted by the Murk looks like. Each filename has the “.[victim\’s_ID].[email_address].MURK” extension appended to it.

How did my computer get infected with Murk ransomware?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular ways for evil-doers to have the Murk virus settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer-to-peer networks.

If you access your inbox and see emails 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 very likely to have a ransomware file enclosed in them. Thus it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer networks like torrents or eMule, the danger is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never know what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is complete.

How do I get rid of the Murk virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Murk virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware³ can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often tamperers would unblock few of your files to prove that they really have the decryption program. As Murk virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware tools are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Sure thing, if the malefactors succeed in encrypting someone’s essential data, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After getting the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption code to the victim. There were reports of ransomware developers just disappearing after getting the money without even writing back.

The optimal 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 not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working on when it all started. But at least it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the system restoration.

Murk is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. Examples of those are Maiv, Ccps, Yoqs, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Murk are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in every folder containing encoded files.

Some lucky people were able to decrypt the blocked files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware developers. Sometimes the criminals mistakenly send the decoding key to the victims in the ransom note. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But obviously, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.

How to avert ransomware infiltration?

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

You can defend your system from ransomware injection within three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown mailboxes with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a lottery without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, check all elements of the questionable email carefully. A hoax letter will surely have mistakes.
• Avoid using cracked or untrusted programs. Trojans are often shared as an element of cracked products, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable ones, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try searching for information on this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the best way is not to use such programs at all.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft⁴

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”.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 Is it possible to open “.[victim\’s_ID].[email_address].MURK” files?

Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.[victim\’s_ID].[email_address].MURK” files you will not be able to access them.

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

If the “.[victim\’s_ID].[email_address].MURK” 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. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

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

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Many of the blocked files might still be at your disposal

• If you sent or received your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to send those images back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them 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 computer, a portable device, cellphone, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can employ data recovery programs⁶ to get your lost data back 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 restoration, but be advised: you can do it only after you kill 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.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
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