The Bozon virus belongs to the ransomware type of malicious agent. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and appends its own extension to every file, creating the FILE RECOVERY.txt text files in each folder with the encrypted files.
What is known about the Bozonvirus?
☝️ A strictly accurate denomination for the Bozon would be “a ransomware malicious agent”.
Bozon will add its own .bozon extension to every file’s title. For example, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.bozon”. Likewise, the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.bozon”, and so on.
In every directory that contains the encrypted files, a FILE RECOVERY.txt text file will appear. 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 most probably contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the tamperers. That is basically the scheme of the crime.
Bozon abstract:
| Name | Bozon Virus |
| Extension | .bozon |
| Ransomware note | FILE RECOVERY.txt |
| Detection | MSIL/Spy.Agent.DSV, TrojanSpy:Win32/Delgent, Trojan.Ransom.Magniber |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .bozon extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Bozon virus |
In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Bozon looks like. Each filename has the “.bozon” extension appended to it.
An example of encrypted .bozon files.
How did my computer get infected with Bozon ransomware?
There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.
Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for criminals to have the Bozon virus planted in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer file transfer.
If you access 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, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a malicious item attached to them. So it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with letters like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan virus model1. A Trojan is a program that gets into your PC pretending to be something different. For example, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some program. However, what is unboxed reveals itself a harmful agent that compromises your data. Since the update file can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The best way is to trust the software developers’ official websites.
As for the peer-to-peer networks like torrent trackers or eMule, the danger is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. You can never guess what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is finished.
How to remove the Bozon virus?
It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your data, the Bozon virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware2 can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Sometimes racketeers would unblock few of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption program. As Bozon virus is a relatively recent ransomware, security software engineers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decoding tools are frequently updated, so the solution may soon arrive.
Of course, if the criminals do the job of encoding someone’s essential files, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. Nevertheless, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports about ransomware developers simply vanishing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.
The best countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud disk or at least on an external storage. Surely, that might be insufficient. The most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all went down. But at least it is something. It is also wise to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the OS restoration.
There are other ransomware products, besides Bozon, that work similarly. Examples of those are Wdlo, Kqgs, Bpqd, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Bozon are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become blocked, their extensions altered, ransom notes are found in every directory containing encrypted files.
Some lucky victims were able to decrypt the arrested files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the racketeers mistakenly send the decoding code to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a bandits’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.
How to avert ransomware attack?
Bozon ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, neither does any similar malware.
You can protect your computer from its attack within several easy steps:
- Ignore any emails from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (how can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the questionable email with caution. A fake email will always contain a mistake.
- Never use cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often shared as a part of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best way is not to use such software.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, check them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a perfect defense for your PC.
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 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 computer for Bozon 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 “.bozon” files?Are the “.bozon” files accessible?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.bozon” files are decrypted.
🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.bozon” files ASAP. How can I do that?
It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. 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.
🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Bozon virus?
Absolutely not! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with actual viruses. The malware that has infected your computer is most likely still functional and it scans your system periodically to arrest any new files you might create on your PC after the infection. As it has been mentioned above, the Bozon ransomware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide malefactors with easy access to your computer in the future.
🤔 What should I do if the Bozon virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.
In such an unfortunate situation, you need to prepare a flash memory card with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to execute the procedure. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system launches and encodes any new files created or imported into your system. To block this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital programs to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on running 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 critical files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
- You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Simply ask them to post those pictures back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
- Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
- Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a notebook, cellphone, flash memory, etc.
HINT: You can use data recovery programs5 to get your lost data back since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, removing the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you can do it only after you remove the virus 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 BOZON Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: BOZON Virus
Description: BOZON Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .bozon 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.
- You can read more on spyware variants and nature in the respective 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 Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
