NOCTUA Files Ransomware – Remove NOCTUA Virus

The Noctua virus falls under the Makop ransomware family. Malware of such sort encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, creating the readme-warning.txt text files in each directory 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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What is Noctua virus?

☝️ A scientifically correct description for the Noctua is “a Makop family ransomware malicious agent”.

The scheme of renaming is this: id-*******.[email address].noctua. In the process of encryption, a file entitled, for example, “report.docx” will be renamed to “report.docx.id-d19h3710j.[[email protected]]”.

In every directory with the encoded files, a readme-warning.txt text document 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 instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can get this decoding tool after contacting [email protected] by email. That is pretty much the scheme of the crime.

Noctua overview:

In the picture below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Noctua looks like. Each filename has the “.id-*******.[email address].noctua” extension added to it.

That is how encrypted “.id-*******.[email address].noctua” files look.

How did Noctua ransomware end up on my PC?

There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most exploited methods for malefactors to have the Noctua virus planted in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.

If you open your inbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a harmful item attached to them. Therefore, it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan horse scheme². A Trojan is an object that infiltrates into your machine disguised as something else. For instance, you download an installer for some program you want or an update for some program. However, what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful agent that encrypts your data. As the installation wizard can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the stuff you’re downloading. The best thing is to use 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 know what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Noctua virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Noctua virus will most likely install 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 tamperers would decode several of your files to prove that they do have the decryption tool. As Noctua virus is a relatively recent ransomware, safety measures designers have not yet found a way to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decryption tools are constantly updated, so the solution may soon arrive.

Of course, if the hackers succeed in encoding victim’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still risky. After getting the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports about criminals simply vanishing after getting the money without even writing back.

The optimal safety measure against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud drive or at least on an external drive. Of course, that might be insufficient. The most important thing could be that file you were working on when it all happened. But at least it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the system is rolled back.

There are other ransomware products, besides Noctua, that work similarly. Examples of those are Kqgs, Wdlo, Bpqd, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Noctua are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes are created in every directory containing encoded files.

Some fortunate victims were able to decrypt the arrested files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware experts. Sometimes the racketeers mistakenly send the decoding code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on 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 infiltration?

Noctua ransomware has no superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can defend your PC from its injection in three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown mailers with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (how can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the questionable letter carefully. A hoax letter will surely have mistakes.
• Never use cracked or unknown programs. Trojans are often distributed as an element of cracked software, most likely under the guise of “patch” which prevents the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy ones, as trojans may also have the functionality you need. Try searching for information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.
• And to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful shield 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 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 Noctua 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

🤔 Are the “.id-*******.[email address].noctua” files accessible?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.id-*******.[email address].noctua” files are decrypted.

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

If the “.id-*******.[email address].noctua” 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 Noctua malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?

Of course not. Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with active viruses. The virus that has infiltrated your computer is probably still functional and running scans every so often to encode any new files you might create on your PC after the initial attack. As it has been said above, the Noctua virus does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide criminals with easy access to your system after some time.

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

In such a case, you need to prepare a memory stick with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to execute the procedure. You see, the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or brought into your machine. To suppress this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential applications to run upon system start. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Many of the encrypted files might still be within your reach

• If you sent or received your important files via 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 post those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, cellphone, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can use data recovery utilities⁵ to get your lost data back since ransomware blocks 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 ransomware itself with an anti-malware 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 NOCTUA Ransomware & Recover PC

Name: NOCTUA Virus

Description: NOCTUA Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .id-*******.[email address].noctua extension. So, you can't use them at all.

Operating System: Windows

Application Category: Virus

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