The Rook virus was originally discovered by virus analyst dnwls0719, and belongs to the Babuk ransomware family. This ransomware encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc), adds its specific extension to every file.
Rook Virus
☝️ Rook can be correctly identify as a Babuk ransomware infection.
Rook adds its specific “.Rook” extension to the name of every file. For example, your photo named as “my_photo.jpeg” will be transformed into “my_photo.jpeg.Rook“, report in Excel tables named “report.xlsx” – to “report.xlsx.Rook“, and so on.
Inside of the ransom note, there is usually an instruction saying about purchasing the decryption tool. This decryption tool is created by ransomware developers.
Here is a summary for the Rook:
| Name | Rook Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Babuk ransomware |
| Extension | .Rook |
| Detection | TrojanDropper:MSIL/VB.C, Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Adload.tkiy, Backdoor.Swz |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .Rook extension and you can’t open it. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Rook virus |
The information by the Rook ransomware states the following frustrating information:
Your files are encrypted,and currently unavailable. You can check it: all files on you computer has expansion robet. By the way,everything is possible to recover (restore), but you need to follow our instructions. Otherwise, you cant return your data (NEVER). [+] What guarantees?[+] Its just a business. We absolutely do not care about you and your deals, except getting benefits. If we do not do our work and liabilities - nobody will not cooperate with us. Its not in our interests. To check the file capacity, please send 3 files not larger than 1M to us, and we will prove that we are capable of restoring. If you will not cooperate with our service - for us, its does not matter. But you will lose your time and data,cause just we have the private key. In practise - time is much more valuable than money. If we find that a security vendor or law enforcement agency pretends to be you to negotiate with us, we will directly destroy the private key and no longer provide you with decryption services. You have 3 days to contact us for negotiation. Within 3 days, we will provide a 50% discount. If the discount service is not provided for more than 3 days, the files will be leaked to our onion network. Every more than 3 days will increase the number of leaked files. [+] How to get access on website?[+] You have two ways: 1) [Recommended] Using a TOR browser! a) Download and install TOR browser from this site:https://torproject.orgt b) Open our website:gamol6n6p2p4c3ad7gxmx3ur7wwdwlywebo2azv3vv5q1mjmole2zbyd.onion 2) Our mail box: a)reketboot@onionmailorg b)successroket@onionmailorg c)If the mailbox fails or is taken over, please open Onion Network to check the new mailbox !!!DANGER!!! DONT try to change files by yourself, DONT use any third party software for restoring your data or antivirus solutions - its may entail damge of the private key and, as result, The Loss all data. !!!!!! AGAIN: Its in your interests to get your files back. From our side, we (the best specialists) make everything for restoring, please should not interfere. ONE MORE TIME: Security vendors and law enforcement agencies, please be aware that attacks on us will make us even stronger. Leaked site be comming
The image below gives a clear vision of how the files with “.Rook” extension look like:
Example of encrypted .Rook files
How did I get Rook ransomware on my computer?
That was a huge number of different ways of ransomware injection.
However, nowadays there are only two ways of Rook injection – email spam and trojans. You may see a lot of messages on your email, stating that you need to pay different bills or to get your parcel from the local FedEx department. But all such messages are sent from unknown email addresses, not from familiar official emails of these companies. All such letters contain the attached file, which is used as a ransomware carrier. If you open this file – your system will get infected by Rook.
In case of trojans presence, you will be offered to download and install ransomware on your PC under the guise of something legit, like a Chrome update, or update for the software you are storing on your computer. Sometimes, trojan viruses can be masked as legit programs, and ransomware will be offered for download as an important update, or a big pack of extensions that are essential for proper program functioning.
There is also the third way of ransomware injection, however, it becomes less and less popular day-to-day. I am talking about peering networks, such as torrents or eMule. No one can control which files are packed in the seeding, so you can discover a huge pack of different malware after downloading. If circumstances force you to download something from peering networks – scan every downloaded folder or archive with antivirus software.
How to remove Rook virus?
In addition to encode a victim’s files, the Rook virus has also started to install the Azorult Spyware on PC to steal account credentials, cryptocurrency wallets, desktop files, and more.
To ensure the user that ransomware distributors really have the decryption tool, they may offer to decrypt several encrypted files. And they are the single owners of this decryption program: Rook ransomware is a completely new type, so there is no legit program from anti-malware vendors, which can decrypt your files. But such a situation is in momentum: decryption tools are updating every month.
However, paying the ransom is a bad decision, too. There is no guarantee that Rook ransomware developers will send you the decryption tool and a proper decryption key. And there are a lot of cases when ransomware distributors deceived their victims, sending the wrong key or even nothing. In the majority of cases, there is a way to recover your files for free. Search for available backups, and restore your system using it. Of course, there is a chance that the backup you found is too old, and does not contain a lot of files you need. But, at least you will be sure that there is no malware in your system. However, to ensure that there are no malicious programs in your system after the backup, you need to scan your PC with anti-malware software.
Rook ransomware is not unique. There are more ransomware of this type: Newcd, Neeh, Decrypt. These examples of ransomware act in a similar way: encrypting your files, adding a specific extension, and leaving a great number of ransom money notes in every folder. But there are two things which make difference between these ransomware – cryptography algorithm, which is used for file encryption, and ransom amount . In some cases, victims are able to decrypt their files without any payments, just using free solutions produced by several anti-malware vendors, or even with the decryption tool which is offered by ransomware creators. The last scenario is possible when ransomware distributors have typed your decryption key inside of a ransom money note. However, as you can already guess, such luck is a very rare thing. Ransomware is created for money gaining, not for jokes or scaring.
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 system for Rook 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
No way. These files are encrypted by Rook ransomware. The contents of .Rook files are not available until they are decrypted.
If your data remained in the .Rook files are very valuable, then most likely you made a backup copy.
If not, then you can try to restore them through the system function – Restore Point. All other methods will require patience.
Of course not. Your encrypted files do not pose a threat to the computer. What happened has already happened.
You need GridinSoft Anti-Malware to remove active system infections. The virus that encrypted your files is most likely still active and periodically runs a test for the ability to encrypt even more files. Also, these viruses install keyloggers and backdoors for further malicious actions (for example, theft of passwords, credit cards) often.
In this situation, you need to prepare the memory stick with a pre-installed Trojan Killer.
You can try to find a copy of an original file that was encrypted:
- Files you downloaded from the Internet that were encrypted and you can download again to get the original.
- Pictures that you shared with family and friends that they can just send back to you.
- Photos that you uploaded on social media or cloud services like Carbonite, OneDrive, iDrive, Google Drive, etc)
- Attachments in emails you sent or received and saved.
- Files on an older computer, flash drive, external drive, camera memory card, or iPhone where you transferred data to the infected computer.
Also, you can contact the following government 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.
How сan I avoid ransomware attack?
Rook ransomware doesn’t have a superpower.
You can easily protect yourself from its injection in several easy steps :
- Ignore all emails from unknown mailboxes with a strange unknown address, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (can you win in a lottery without taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, check carefully all elements of the suspicious letter. A fake email will surely contain a mistake.
- Do not use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojans are often distributed as a part of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” which prevents the license check. But untrusted programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy software, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. You can try to find information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best solution is not to use such programs.
- And to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will surely be a perfect shield for your personal computer.
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Brendan SmithHow to Remove ROOK Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: ROOK Virus
Description: ROOK Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .Rook extension. So, you can't use them at all.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Virus
User Review
( votes)References
- My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
- GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
- More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
