The Nokoyawa virus belongs to the ransomware type of infection. Ransomware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (photos, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, leaving the NOKOYAWA_readme.txt files in each directory with the encrypted files.
What is Nokoyawa virus?
☝️ A strictly correct description for the Nokoyawa would be “a ransomware-type infection”.
Nokoyawa will append its specific .NOKOYAWA extension to the name of every encrypted file. For example, a file entitled “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.NOKOYAWA”. Just like the Excel sheet with the name “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.NOKOYAWA”, and so forth.
In every directory containing the encoded files, a NOKOYAWA_readme.txt text document will appear. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the tamperers. That is it.
Nokoyawa overview:
| Name | Nokoyawa Virus |
| Extension | .NOKOYAWA |
| Ransomware note | NOKOYAWA_readme.txt |
| Detection | Trojan:Win32/Oficla.T, DiskCryptor (PUA), Ransom:Win32/Genasom.CP |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) get a .NOKOYAWA extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Nokoyawa virus |
In the picture below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Nokoyawa looks like. Each filename has the “.NOKOYAWA” extension appended to it.
That is how encrypted “.NOKOYAWA” files look.
How did my computer get infected with Nokoyawa ransomware?
There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.
Nowadays, there are three most exploited methods for hackers to have ransomware settled in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer networks.
If you access your mailbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is unknown to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a viral item attached to them. So it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with letters like these.
Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan virus model1. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your machine pretending to be something different. For instance, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some software. But what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful program that compromises your data. Since the update wizard can have any title and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the files you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software developers’ official websites.
As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never guess 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 anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.
How to remove the Nokoyawa virus?
It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Nokoyawa virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Sometimes criminals would unblock few of your files so you know that they indeed have the decryption program. Since Nokoyawa virus is a relatively recent ransomware, safety measures developers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decoding instruments are frequently upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.
Of course, if the tamperers do the job of encoding someone’s essential data, the hopeless person will most likely fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your files back. It is still dangerous. After obtaining the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports about hackers simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.
The best countermeasure to ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud disk or at least on an external drive. Of course, that might be not enough. The most crucial thing could be that one you were working on when it all went down. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the system restoration.
There are other ransomware products, besides Nokoyawa, that work similarly. For instance, Fgui, Eucy, Rtgf, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Nokoyawa are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in each directory containing encoded files.
Some lucky victims were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware developers. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decoding key to the wronged in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.
How сan I avert ransomware infiltration?
Nokoyawa ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.
You can defend your system from ransomware attack within several easy steps:
- Never open any emails from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (how 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 with caution. A hoax email will always contain mistakes.
- Do not use cracked or unknown software. Trojan viruses are often shared as an element of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy ones, as trojans may also have the functionality you need. Try to find information about this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal way is not to use such software.
- And to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, check them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a perfect 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 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 PC for Nokoyawa 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
🤔 How can I open “.NOKOYAWA” files?Can I somehow access “.NOKOYAWA” files?
Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.NOKOYAWA” files you will not be able to access them.
🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?
If the “.NOKOYAWA” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. If not, there is still a function of System Restore but it needs a Restore Point to be previously saved. The rest of the methods require patience.
🤔 If GridinSoft deletes the Nokoyawa malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?
No way! Unlike the ransomware program itself, the encrypted files do not jeopardize your system.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware will remove active malware from your PC. The virus that has infiltrated your PC is probably still functional and launching checks from time to time to arrest any new files you might create on your computer after the initial attack. As it has been said above, the Nokoyawa malware 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 in the future.
🤔 What actions should I take if the Nokoyawa virus has blocked my computer 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 launches and encodes any new files created or imported into your system. 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 could help the situation right now?
Some of the blocked data can be found elsewhere.
- If you sent or received your critical files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
- You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to send those images back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try downloading them again.
- Your messengers, social media 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, mobile, external storage, etc.
HINT: You can employ data recovery utilities4 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware arrests the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before you eradicate the ransomware itself with an antivirus 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 NOKOYAWA Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: NOKOYAWA Virus
Description: NOKOYAWA Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .NOKOYAWA 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 are Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
