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

The “Robaj” belongs to the Conti ransomware family. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, text files, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file.

What is known about the Robaj virus?

☝️ Robaj is a Conti family ransomware virus.

Robaj adds its own .Robaj extension to every file’s name. For instance, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be altered to “photo.jpg.Robaj”. Just like the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will be altered to “table.xlsx.Robaj”, and so on.

The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can obtain this tool after contacting readme.txt through email. That is basically the scheme of the crime.

Robaj Overview:

The note accompanying the Robaj ransomware states the following:

Dear user,
Your system has been locked by our advanced encryption algorithm, and all important files have been encrypted, making them temporarily inaccessible.We have noticed the high value of your data,
and thus we offer the only data recovery solution.If you wish to recover the affected files, please follow these steps :
Do not attempt to decrypt the files yourself or use third - party tools for recovery, as this may result in permanent damage to the files.
Please contact us through anonymous communication channels as soon as possibleand prepare a specified amount of bitcoins as ransom.
Upon receiving the ransom, we will provide a dedicated decryption tooland key to recover your files.
Please note that we monitor every attempt to crack the encryption, and failure to pay the ransom on time or attempting to bypass the encryption may result in an increase in ransom or the complete destruction of the key.
We value the needs of every \"customer\", and cooperation will be the fastest way for you to retrieve your data.
Best regards
[@Robaj]

In the picture below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Robaj looks like. Each filename has the “.Robaj” extension appended to it.

How did Robaj ransomware end up on my PC?

There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

Nowadays, there are three most exploited ways for malefactors to have the Robaj virus settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer file transfer.

• If you open your mailbox and see letters that look just like 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 very likely to have a viral file 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 file model. A Trojan is an object that infiltrates into your machine pretending to be something different. For example, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some software. But what is unboxed reveals itself a harmful program that compromises your data. As the installation package can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the stuff you’re downloading. The best way is to use the software companies’ 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 Internet. You can never know what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How do I get rid of ransomware?

It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your files, the Robaj virus will most likely deploy Vidar Stealer on your computer to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

How сan I avoid ransomware injection?

Robaj ransomware doesn’t have a superpower, neither does any similar malware.

You can defend your system from its injection within three easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown mailboxes with strange 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, check all elements of the suspicious letter carefully. A hoax letter will always have a mistake.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojans are often distributed as an element of cracked software, most likely under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are difficult to tell from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try searching for information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the best solution is not to use such software.

FAQ

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

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

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

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. The rest of the methods require patience.

🤔 What to do if the Robaj virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Many of the encrypted files might still be at your disposal

• If you sent or received your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Just 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.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a notebook, cellphone, flash memory, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs² to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the video below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you can do it only after you kill the ransomware itself with an antivirus program.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. Here’s the list of Best Data Recovery Software Of 2024.