The Royroy virus belongs to the Zeppelin ransomware family. Harmful software of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, documents, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, creating the !!! ALL YOUR FILES ARE ENCRYPTED !!!.TXT text files in every folder containing encrypted files.
Royroy virus: what is known so far?
☝️ A scientifically correct designation for the Royroy is “a Zeppelin family ransomware infection”.
The renaming will be done according to this pattern: .royroy. As a part of encryption, a file named, for instance, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx.royroy.1C1-98A-33A”.
In each directory with the encoded files, a !!! ALL YOUR FILES ARE ENCRYPTED !!!.TXT file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note most probably contains a description of how to buy the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can obtain this tool after contacting royroy@cock.li via email. That is it.
Royroy outline:
| Name | Royroy Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Zeppelin ransomware |
| Extension | .royroy |
| Ransomware note | !!! ALL YOUR FILES ARE ENCRYPTED !!!.TXT |
| Contact | royroy@cock.li |
| Detection | Win32/Injector.DDXX, MSIL/Filecoder.LokiLocker.D, MSIL/Grenam-A |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .royroy extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Royroy virus |
The !!! ALL YOUR FILES ARE ENCRYPTED !!!.TXT file coming in package with the Royroy ransomware provides the following frustrating information:
All your files, documents, photos, databases and other important files are encrypted. You are not able to decrypt it by yourself! The only method of recovering files is to purchase an unique private key. Only we can give you this key and only we can recover your files. To be sure we have the decryptor and it works you can send an email: royroy@cock.li and decrypt one file for free. But this file should be of not valuable! Do you really want to restore your files? Write to email: royroy@cock.li Reserved email: colambia@tutanota.com 1. Visit hxxps://tox.chat/download.html 2. Download and install qTOX on your PC. 3. Open it, click \"New Profile\" and create profile. 4. Click \"Add friends\" button and search our contact - 126E30C4CC9DE90F79D1FA90830FDC2069A2E981ED26B6DC148DA8827FB3D63A1B46CFDEC191 Your personal ID: - Attention! * Do not rename encrypted files. * Do not try to decrypt your data using third party software, it may cause permanent data loss. * Decryption of your files with the help of third parties may cause increased price (they add their fee to our) or you can become a victim of a scam.
In the picture below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Royroy looks like. Each filename has the “.royroy” extension added to it.
That is how encrypted “.royroy” files look.
How did Royroy ransomware end up on my PC?
There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware injection.
There are currently three most popular methods for evil-doers to have ransomware working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer file transfer.
If you access your mailbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a malware item attached to them. Therefore, it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan file model2. A Trojan is an object that infiltrates into your machine pretending to be something different. For example, you download an installer of some program you need or an update for some program. But what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful program that encrypts your data. Since the installation wizard can have any name and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the resource of the things you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software companies’ official websites.
As for the peer networks like torrents or eMule, the danger 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. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.
How to remove the Royroy virus?
It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Royroy virus will probably deploy the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Sometimes tamperers would decrypt few of your files to prove that they really have the decryption tool. Since Royroy virus is a relatively new ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decryption tools are constantly upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.
Sure thing, if the malefactors do the job of encoding victim’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to criminals gives no guarantee that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports of ransomware developers simply vanishing after getting the ransom without even writing back.
The optimal safety measure against 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 disk. Of course, that might be insufficient. Your most important thing could be that file you were working on when it all started. But at least it is something. It is also wise to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the system is rolled back.
Royroy is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. Examples of those are Hkgt, Lltt, Llqq, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Royroy are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: files become encrypted, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in every directory containing encrypted files.
Some fortunate users were able to decrypt the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the criminals mistakenly send the decoding code to the victims in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.
How do I avert ransomware infection?
Royroy ransomware has no superpower, so as any similar malware.
You can protect your PC from ransomware infiltration taking several easy steps:
- Ignore any emails from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (can you win in a lottery 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 with caution. A fake letter will always contain a mistake.
- Never use cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often distributed as a part of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. But untrusted programs are difficult to tell from reliable software, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.
- And finally, to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, check them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a perfect defense for your personal computer.
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 computer.
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 Royroy 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.
FAQ
🤔 Is it possible to open “.royroy” files?
Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.royroy” files first. Then you will be able to open them.
🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?
Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. If not, there is still a function of System Restore but it needs a Restore Point to be previously saved. All other solutions require time.
🤔 You have advised using GridinSoft Anti-Malware to get rid of the Royroy virus. Does it mean that all my files, currently encrypted, will be removed too?
Absolutely not! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.
With the help of GridinSoft Anti-Malware, you can clean your computer off the actual threats. The virus that has infected your PC is most likely still active and launching checks every so often to arrest any new files you might create on your PC after the attack. As it has been mentioned above, the Royroy malware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide hackers with easy access to your PC in the future.
🤔 What to do if the Royroy malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.
In such a case, you need to have a flash memory card with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to do the cleaning. You see, the ransomware runs automatically as the system launches and encodes any new files created or brought into your system. To block this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital applications to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What can I do right now?
Some of the blocked data can be located elsewhere.
- If you exchanged your critical files via email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
- You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to send those images back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
- Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a portable device, phone, memory stick, etc.
HINT: You can employ data recovery programs5 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but remember: you can do it only after you kill 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.
I need your help to share this article.
It is your turn to help other people. I have written this guide to help users like you. You can use the buttons below to share this on your favorite social media Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit.
Brendan SmithHow to Remove ROYROY Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: ROYROY Virus
Description: ROYROY Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .royroy 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?
- You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated 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.
