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

The Snwkz virus belongs to the Hive ransomware family. Ransomware of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, text files, excel sheets, music, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, leaving the Djfk_HOW_TO_DECRYPT.txt text files in each folder which contains the encrypted files.

What is Snwkz virus?

☝️ A scientifically accurate description for the Snwkz is “a Hive family ransomware malicious agent”.

The renaming will be executed according to this scheme: [random_string].snwkz. As a part of encryption, a file named, for instance, “report.docx” will be changed to “report.docx.5GidBrZG88lGZxe-YMbrNscpw4h9e6-NISHVchGL8Ov_qHLbTXn2TV00.snwkz”.

In every folder containing the encrypted files, a Djfk_HOW_TO_DECRYPT.txt text file will appear. The readme file name is not linear either – the first 4 symbols are random. It is a ransom money note. It contains information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. You can obtain this decryptor after contacting Tor website through email. That is how they do it.

Snwkz summary:

The Djfk_HOW_TO_DECRYPT.txt file coming in package with the Snwkz ransomware provides the following dispiriting information:

Your network has been breached and all data were encrypted.
Personal data, financial reports and important documents are ready to disclose.

To decrypt all the data and to prevent exfiltrated files to be disclosed at
hxxp://hiveleakdbtnp76ulyhi52eag6c6tyc3xw7ez7iqy6wc34gd2nekazyd.onion/
you will need to purchase our decryption software.

Please contact our sales department at:

-  
Login:    -
Password: -

To get an access to .onion websites download and install Tor Browser at:
hxxps://www.torproject.org/ (Tor Browser is not related to us)


Follow the guidelines below to avoid losing your data:

 - Do not modify, rename or delete *.key.snwkz files. Your data will be
   undecryptable.
 - Do not modify or rename encrypted files. You will lose them.
 - Do not report to the Police, FBI, etc. They don\'t care about your business.
   They simply won\'t allow you to pay. As a result you will lose everything.
 - Do not hire a recovery company. They can\'t decrypt without the key.
   They also don\'t care about your business. They believe that they are
   good negotiators, but it is not. They usually fail. So speak for yourself.
 - Do not reject to purchase. Exfiltrated files will be publicly disclosed.

In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Snwkz looks like. Each filename has the “.snwkz” extension added to it.

How did my computer get infected with Snwkz ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most popular ways for criminals to have the Snwkz virus settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer networks.

If you access your mailbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is strange to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a malicious file enclosed in them. Thus it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the 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. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded items with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Snwkz virus?

It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your files, the Snwkz virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes racketeers would decode some of your files so you know that they do have the decryption program. As Snwkz virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a method to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware instruments are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Understandably, if the criminals do the job of encrypting someone’s essential data, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. However, paying to criminals does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After receiving the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption code to the victim. There were reports of criminals simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.

The optimal solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud storage or at least on an external storage. Surely, 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 PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS is rolled back.

There are other ransomware products, besides Snwkz, that work similarly. Examples of those are Hhoo, Hhee, Vvmm, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Snwkz are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: documents become blocked, their extensions altered, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encrypted files.

Some fortunate victims were able to decrypt the arrested files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers mistakenly send the decoding code to the victims in the ransom note. Such an extraordinary fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But obviously, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.

How to avoid ransomware injection?

Snwkz ransomware has no superpower, neither does any similar malware.

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

• Ignore any letters from unknown mailboxes with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a money prize draw without participating in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email carefully. A fake email will surely have mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as a part of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. Understandably, dubious programs are difficult to distinguish from trustworthy software, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try searching for information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal solution is not to use such programs at all.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft³

Download Removal Tool.

Run the setup file.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

Click on “Clean Now”.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 Is it possible to open “.snwkz” files?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.snwkz” files first. Then you will be able to open them.

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

It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. Otherwise, you might try to employ System Restore. The only question is whether you have saved any Restore Points that would be helpful now. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 What should I do if the Snwkz virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 What could help the situation right now?

Some of the blocked files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your critical files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Just ask them to send those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Web, you can try doing it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, phone, memory stick, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can use data recovery utilities⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you won’t be able to do it before you kill the virus with an anti-malware 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.

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