The Night sky virus falls under the ransomware type of infection. Harmful software of this type encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, text files, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, creating the NightSkyReadMe.hta files in each folder containing encrypted files.
What is known about the Night skyvirus?
☝️ A scientifically correct denomination for the Night sky is “a ransomware malicious agent”.
Night sky appends its own .nightsky extension to every file’s title. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.nightsky”. In the same manner, the Excel sheet named “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.nightsky”, and so on.
In every folder with the encoded files, a NightSkyReadMe.hta file will be created. 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 tamperers. That is it.
Night sky overview:
| Name | Night sky Virus |
| Extension | .nightsky |
| Ransomware note | NightSkyReadMe.hta |
| Detection | BScope.TrojanRansom.KlopRansom, Win32/Packed.Asprotect.KO, Trojan:Win32/Raccoon.QA!MTB |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) get a .nightsky extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Night sky virus |
The NightSkyReadMe.hta document coming in package with the Night sky malware provides the following discouraging information:
NIGHT SKY ---------------------------------------------- WARNING! Your company has been hacked by us. Internal files have been stolen and encrypted by us. But don't worry, we didn't destroy them, and we won't leak data right away. If your company is willing to meet our requirements, we will decrypt the data and destroy the stolen data without data leakage. ---------------------------------------------- Steal list All files in the file server 297GB ERP System Database and file 513GB(Include ARL,AAL,AVL,AIL,AKIJ domain) Mail server data(Include emails of all company directors within two years) 47GB Gitlab code base 2.7GB business system databases(Including company and customer data) 45GB All website Cpanel database backup 107GB Personal computer desktop file(210,000 office documents within one year) 62GB All employee resumes ---------------------------------------------- Notice Do not contact third party to restore the file, the file can't be decrypted without the key. The third party only contact us to buy the key at a lower price to earn the difference ---------------------------------------------- Our condition Contact us within a week to get a price We may reconsider our price if you contact and pay within 3 days We will deactivate the communication account after a week,then no one can contact us anymore ---------------------------------------------- Contact information Web Chat: You can use the username and password provided by us to login to the chat room to communicate with us. URL:- username:- password:- Email: You can contact us by email. EMAIL ADDRESS:- ---------------------------------------------- Data release website Where we use to disclose the data of customers who do not pay - ---------------------------------------------- Remark How to access dark web sites:-
In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Night sky looks like. Each filename has the “.nightsky” extension added to it.
That is how encrypted “.nightsky” files look.
How did Night sky ransomware end up on my PC?
There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.
Nowadays, there are three most exploited methods for evil-doers to have ransomware acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer networks.
If you open your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is strange to you, beware of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a harmful file attached to them. So it is even more dangerous to open any attachments that come with emails like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan horse model1. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your computer pretending to be something legal. For instance, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some program. However, what is unboxed reveals itself a harmful program that compromises your data. Since the update package can have any title and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software companies’ official websites.
As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like torrent trackers or eMule, the threat 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. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.
How do I get rid of the Night sky virus?
It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Night sky virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.
Often racketeers would decrypt several of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption program. Since Night sky virus is a relatively new ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.
Of course, if the tamperers succeed in encoding someone’s essential files, the desperate person will most likely comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still risky. After obtaining the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports about criminals just vanishing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.
The best countermeasure to 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 drive. Surely, that might be insufficient. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working on when it all started. 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 Night sky, that work similarly. Examples of those are Xcmb, Mljx, Hudf, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Night sky are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: documents become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in each directory containing encrypted files.
Some lucky users were able to decrypt the arrested files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the user to restore the files. But naturally, one should never rely on such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How сan I avert ransomware infection?
Night sky ransomware has no superpower, neither does any similar malware.
You can armour yourself from its infiltration within three easy steps:
- Never open any emails from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email with caution. A fake email will always have mistakes.
- Avoid using cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often spreaded as an element of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from reliable ones, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information about this software product 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, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful armor for your PC.
Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft2
There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft3.
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 computer.
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 computer for Night sky 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 completed, 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 “.nightsky” files?Is it possible to open“.nightsky” files?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.nightsky” files are decrypted.
🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?
Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. 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.
🤔 You have advised using GridinSoft Anti-Malware to get rid of the Night sky virus. Does it mean that all my files, currently encrypted, will be removed too?
Of course not. Unlike the ransomware program itself, the encrypted files do not jeopardize your system.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware will delete active infections from your computer. The virus that has infected your PC is must be still active and running scans periodically to encrypt any new files you might create on your PC after the initial attack. As it has been said above, the Night sky malware comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide criminals with easy access to your system in the future.
🤔 What actions should I take if the Night sky ransomware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.
In such an unfortunate situation, you need to have a memory stick with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to execute the procedure. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system launches and encrypts any new files created or brought into your PC. To block this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential applications to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What can I do right now?
Many of the encoded files might still be at your disposal
- If you sent or received your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
- You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to send those pictures 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 drives might have all those files as well.
- Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, phone, flash memory, etc.
HINT: You can employ file recovery utilities4 to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, removing the authentic 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 remove 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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Brendan SmithHow to Remove NIGHT SKY Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: NIGHT SKY Virus
Description: NIGHT SKY Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .nightsky 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.
- GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
- More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
- Here’s the list of Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
I download your Fix tools: GridinSoft anti-malware but installation file is not running. Given error ” Setup was interrupted! ”
Would you please share me details.