SCRYPT Ransomware (.SCRYPT Files) Removal

The Scrypt ransomware encrypts all the data on your computer (images, documents, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, creating the readme.txt text files in each directory with the encrypted files.

What is Scrypt Ransomware?

Scrypt virus will append its extra .scrypt extension to the name of every encrypted file. For example, an image named “photo.jpg” will be changed to “photo.jpg.scrypt”. Just like the Excel file named “table.xlsx” will be renamed to “table.xlsx.scrypt”, and so forth.

In each directory that contains the encoded files, a readme.txt file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the Scrypt developers. That is how they do it.

Scrypt Overview:

The readme.txt file accompanying the Scrypt ransomware states the following:

Hello,
Congrats you have been hit by the Scrypt Ransomware so lets talk about recovering your files. First off don\'t even waste your time with free decrypters.
Scrypt Ransomware uses 256 aes bit encryption which means its impossible to bruteforce or attempt to recover your files. So here are the steps to recovering
your files. First off let me prefix this by saying reporting this malware or leaving a bad review on the product will instantly disqualify you from recovering
your files, so if you wish to see your files in any shape or form I reccomend you keep quiet and follow these steps:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Download BitPay: hxxps://bitpay.com/ This can also be downloaded from the microsoft store.
2. Purchase $500 in bitcoin using the buy crypto option
3. Send that $500 in bitcoin to this addr: _BITCOIN_ADDR
4. After you have sent the money send an email to _EMAIL saying that you have paid and please include your user id.
5. Wait roughly 6 hours, I will send you your decrypter and key which can be used to decrypt all files encrypted by the ransomware.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
YOU HAVE ONE WEEK, AFTER ONE WEEK DECRYPTING YOUR FILES WILL BECOME $5000
REPORTING THIS FILE TO ANYONE WILL RESULT IN A FULL LOSS OF FILES
FAILING TO PAY WILL RESULT IN YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS SUCH AS:
- IP
- Address
- Username
- Emails and passwords
- Discord Account
BEEN SOLD ON THE DARKWEB

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

How did my computer get infected with Scrypt ransomware?

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

There are currently three most exploited ways for criminals to have the Scrypt virus working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer file transfer.

• If you access your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is strange to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are most likely to have a ransomware file enclosed in them. Thus it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.
• Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan virus scheme. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your PC pretending to be something else. Imagine, you download an installer of some program you want or an update for some service. But what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful program that encodes your data. As the update package can have any name and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the resource of the files you’re downloading. The optimal way is to use the software companies’ official websites.
• As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like torrents or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never guess what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove ransomware?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Scrypt virus will probably install Vidar Stealer on your machine to seize your credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned spyware can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

How do I avert ransomware injection?

Scrypt ransomware has no superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can defend your PC from its injection in several easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are expecting (how can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the questionable letter with caution. A fake letter will always contain a mistake.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often spreaded as an element of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, untrusted programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy software, as trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. You can try searching for information about this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal solution is not to use such software.

FAQ

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

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.scrypt” 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. All other solutions require time.

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

🤔 What can I do right now?

Some of the blocked files can be located elsewhere.

• If you sent or received your critical files via email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to give those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, mobile, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery utilities¹ to get your lost data back since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you can do it only after you remove the virus with an anti-malware program.

1. Here’s the list of Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2024.