NETWALKER Virus 🔐 (.ID Files) — How to Remove?

The Netwalker virus falls within the ransomware type of infection. A harmful program of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (images, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, leaving the 3289cf-Readme.txt text files in each folder containing encrypted files.

Netwalker virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A strictly correct denomination for the Netwalker is “a ransomware-type malicious agent”.

The renaming will be executed according to this pattern: %filename%.victimID. In the process of encryption, a file entitled, for instance, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx.3289cf”.

In each directory containing the encrypted files, a victimID-Readme.txt text file will be found. For our instance, the file was named as 3289cf-Readme.txt. It is a ransom money note. It contains information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can obtain this decoding tool after contacting Tor website via email. That is it.

Netwalker outline:

The 3289cf-Readme.txt document accompanying the Netwalker ransomware provides the following discouraging information:

Hi!
Your files are encrypted by Netwalker.
All encrypted files for this computer has extension:

--
If for some reason you read this text before the encryption ended,
this can be understood by the fact that the computer slows down,
and your heart rate has increased due to the ability to turn it off,
then we recommend that you move away from the computer and accept that you have been compromised.
Rebooting/shutdown will cause you to lose files without the possibility of recovery.

--
Our  encryption algorithms are very strong and your files are very well protected,
the only way to get your files back is to cooperate with us and get the decrypter program.

Do not try to recover your files without a decrypter program, you may damage them and then they will be impossible to recover.

For us this is just business and to prove to you our seriousness, we will decrypt you one file for free.
Just open our website, upload the encrypted file and get the decrypted file for free.

--

Steps to get access on our website:

1.Download and install tor-browser: hxxps://torproject.org/

2.Open our website: pb36hu4spl6cyjdfhing7h3pw6dhpk32ifemawkujj4gp33ejzdq3did.onion
If the website is not available, open another one: rnfdsgm6wb6j6su5txkekw4u4y47kp2eatvu7d6xhyn5cs4lt4pdrqqd.onion

3.Put your personal code in the input form:

-

In the screenshot below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Netwalker looks like. Each filename has the “.id” extension added to it.

How did my computer get infected with Netwalker ransomware?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited methods for evil-doers to have the Netwalker virus acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you open your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is unknown to you, beware of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a malware file attached to them. Thus it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer file transfer protocols like torrent trackers 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 folder containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How do I get rid of the Netwalker virus?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Netwalker virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often criminals would decode some of your files so you know that they indeed have the decryption tool. Since Netwalker virus is a relatively new ransomware, safety measures developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the decryption instruments are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Sure thing, if the evildoers do the job of encoding victim’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still risky. After getting the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about hackers simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.

The optimal solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud storage or at least on an external storage. Surely, that might be not enough. The most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all happened. But at least it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the OS is rolled back.

Netwalker 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 Tury, Nuis, Adlg, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Netwalker are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become inaccessible, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in every folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky people were able to decode the blocked files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decoding key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the victim to restore the files. But naturally, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How сan I avoid ransomware injection?

Netwalker ransomware has no endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can defend your computer from its injection in several easy steps:

• Ignore any emails from unknown mailers with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (how can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the questionable email carefully. A fake letter will always contain a mistake.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often distributed as a part of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, untrusted programs are difficult to distinguish from trustworthy ones, as trojans may also have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware forums, 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

🤔 Is it possible to open “.id” files?

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

🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.id” files ASAP. How can I do that?

It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. 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. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 What should I do if the Netwalker 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 within your reach

• If you exchanged 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. Just ask them to give those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a laptop, phone, memory stick, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can use file recovery utilities⁴ to get your lost data back since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a restoration, but remember: you can do it only after you eradicate the ransomware itself 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.

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