RN Virus 🔐 (.RN Files) — How to Remove?

The Rn virus belongs to the ransomware type of malicious agent. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its specific extension to every file, creating the desktop wallpaper files in each folder 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 Rn virus?

☝️ A scientifically accurate denomination for the Rn would be “a ransomware-type malicious agent”.

Rn appends its extra .rn extension to the name of every encrypted file. For example, a file entitled “photo.jpg” will be renamed to “photo.jpg.rn”. In the same manner, the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will be changed to “table.xlsx.rn”, and so forth.

In each folder that contains the encrypted files, a desktop wallpaper file will be created. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information on 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.

Rn outline:

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

An example of encrypted .rn files.

How did my machine catch Rn ransomware?

There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most exploited ways for hackers to have the Rn virus working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer networks.

If you access your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a malware item enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with letters like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan virus scheme¹. A Trojan is an object that gets into your machine pretending to be something legal. For example, you download an installer of some program you want or an update for some service. But what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful program that encrypts your data. Since the installation file can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the stuff you’re downloading. The optimal way is to trust the software companies’ official websites.

As for the peer file transfer protocols like BitTorrent or eMule, the danger 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 resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded files with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is complete.

How do I get rid of the Rn virus?

It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your files, the Rn virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your computer to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware² can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Often racketeers would decode some of your files so you know that they indeed have the decryption program. Since Rn virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a method to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decoding instruments are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Of course, if the evildoers do the job of encoding victim’s critical files, the desperate person will most likely comply with their demands. However, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still dangerous. After getting the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports of racketeers simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal countermeasure to 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 storage. Obviously, that might be insufficient. The most crucial thing could be that one you were working on when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the system restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Rn, that work similarly. For instance, Coaq, Dapo, Cosw, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Rn are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: files become inaccessible, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in each directory containing encrypted files.

Some fortunate victims were able to decrypt the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decryption code to the victims 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’ tool to pull the money out of their victims.

How сan I avert ransomware attack?

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

You can defend your computer from its injection in 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 expecting (how can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, check all elements of the dubious letter carefully. A fake email will surely contain mistakes.
• Never use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often distributed as a part of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try to find information on this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the best way is not to use such programs at all.
• 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 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 system.

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 Rn 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 How can I open “.rn” files?Are the “.rn” files accessible?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.rn” files are decrypted.

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

Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. 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. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Rn virus?

No way! Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with actual viruses. The virus that has attacked your computer is probably still active and launching checks every so often to encode any new files you might create on your PC after the infection. As it has been said above, the Rn ransomware comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide criminals with easy access to your system in the future.

🤔 What actions should I take if the Rn ransomware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

If that happened, you need to have a flash memory drive with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the cleaning. The point is that the ransomware starts automatically as the system launches and encrypts any new files created or brought into your system. To stop this function – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential programs to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Some of the encrypted data can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files via email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to give those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try doing 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 computer, a portable device, mobile, flash memory, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery utilities⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you eradicate 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.

1. You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
2. You can read more on spyware variants and nature in the respective section of GridinSoft official website.
3. GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
4. More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
5. Here’s the list of Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.