NULLTHEGAME Virus 🔐 (.NULL Files) — How to Remove?

The Nullthegame virus falls under the Chaos ransomware family. Exactly, it uses its codebase, which was leaked some time ago. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, creating the read_it.txt files in every folder with the encrypted files.

What is Nullthegame virus?

☝️ A strictly accurate denomination for the Nullthegame is “a Chaos family ransomware malicious agent”.

Nullthegame appends its own .NULL extension to every file’s title. For example, an image named “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.NULL”. In the same manner, the Excel sheet with the name “table.xlsx” will be changed to “table.xlsx.NULL”, and so on.

In each folder containing the encoded files, a read_it.txt text file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. That is how they do it.

Nullthegame outline:

In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Nullthegame looks like. Each filename has the “.NULL” extension appended to it.

How did Nullthegame ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most exploited ways for evil-doers to have the Nullthegame virus planted in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you access your mailbox and see letters that look like familiar 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 ransomware file attached to them. So it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer networks like torrents 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. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of the Nullthegame virus?

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

Often criminals would decrypt few of your files to prove that they do have the decryption program. Since Nullthegame virus is a relatively new ransomware, anti-malware designers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. However, the decryption instruments are constantly updated, so the solution may soon be available.

Understandably, if the hackers do the job of encoding victim’s critical files, the desperate person will most likely comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports of hackers just disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal solution against ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external storage. Surely, that might be insufficient. Your most important thing could be that one you were working on when it all started. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS is rolled back.

Nullthegame is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. For instance, Zatp, Bowd, Tcvp, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Nullthegame are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: files become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky users were able to decode the arrested files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the hackers accidentally send the decoding key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the user to restore the files. But naturally, one should never expect such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a tamperers’ instrument to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How сan I avoid ransomware attack?

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

You can protect your computer from its attack in several easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to 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 carefully. A hoax email will surely contain mistakes.
• Never use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often shared as an element of cracked software, possibly as a “patch” preventing the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try to find information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal 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”.

FAQ

🤔 How can I open “.NULL” files?Is it possible to open“.NULL” files?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.NULL” files first. Then you will be able to open them.

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

If the “.NULL” 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. All other solutions require time.

🤔 What to do if the Nullthegame malware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Many of the blocked files might still be at your disposal

• If you exchanged your important files via 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 post those images back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Internet, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud disks might have all those files too.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a laptop, mobile, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can employ data recovery programs⁶ to retrieve your lost information 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 recovery, but be advised: you can do it only after you eradicate the virus with an anti-malware 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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