UNIQUE Ransomware 🔐 (.UNIQUE File) — Removal Guide

The Unique virus falls under the ransomware type of malicious agent. Harmful software of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, creating the info.txt files in every folder containing encrypted files. This ransomware belongs to Phobos ransomware family.

Unique virus: what is known so far?

☝️ A scientifically correct designation for the Unique would be “a ransomware infection”.

The scheme of renaming is the following: id[xxxxx].[contact_email].unique. In the process of encryption, a file entitled, for example, “report.docx” will be altered to “report.docx.id[9ECFA84E-3379].[[email protected]].unique”.

In every folder that contains the encrypted files, a info.txt file will be created. It is a ransom money note. It contains information on the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can obtain this decoding tool after contacting [email protected] by email. That is it.

Unique outline:

The info.txt document accompanying the Unique malware states the following:

!!!All of your files are encrypted!!!
To decrypt them send e-mail to this address: [email protected].
If we don\'t answer in 24h., send e-mail to this address: [email protected]

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

How did Unique ransomware end up on my PC?

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

There are currently three most exploited ways for hackers to have ransomware planted in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer networks.

If you open your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a viral file enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with emails 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 Web. You can never know what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Unique virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Unique virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your machine to seize your credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That spyware² can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes racketeers would decode some of your files to prove that they really have the decryption program. As Unique virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. However, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly updated, so the solution may soon arrive.

Sure thing, if the tamperers succeed in encrypting someone’s essential files, the desperate person will most likely 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 ransom, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports of malefactors simply vanishing after getting the money without even writing back.

The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud disk or at least on an external drive. Surely, that might be insufficient. Your most crucial thing could be that one you were working upon when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the OS is rolled back.

There are other ransomware products, besides Unique, that work similarly. For instance, Eewt, Aawt, Mmdt, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Unique are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: files become encrypted, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in each directory containing encoded files.

Some lucky victims were able to decode the arrested files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decoding code to the wronged in the ransom note. Such an epic fail allows the victim to restore the files. But naturally, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ tool to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How do I avoid ransomware attack?

Unique ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can protect your PC from ransomware infiltration in several easy steps:

• Ignore any emails from unknown mailers with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (how can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email carefully. A fake email will always have a mistake.
• Never use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often shared as an element of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try to find information on this software product on the anti-malware message boards, 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

🤔 Are the “.unique” files accessible?

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

🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.unique” files ASAP. How can I do that?

It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. 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.

🤔 What should I do if the Unique virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Many of the encoded files might still be within your reach

• If you sent or received your important 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 post 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 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 PC, a notebook, mobile, memory stick, etc.

HINT: You can employ file recovery programs⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, removing the original ones. In the video below, you can see 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.

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.

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