Safety specialist Tomas Meskauskas was the one who, for the first time, detected the Ust29 virus, which belongs under the Dharma ransomware family. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the computer (images, documents, excel tables, audio files, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file.
What is known about the Ust29virus?
☝️ A strictly accurate description for the Ust29 is “a Dharma family ransomware infection”.
The renaming will be executed by the following pattern: Ust29. After the encryption, a file named, for example, “report.docx” will be altered to “report.docx.id-9ECFA84E.[[email protected]].ust29”.
The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. You can get this decoding tool after contacting [email protected], [email protected] via email. That is basically the scheme of the felony.
Ust29 outline:
| Name | Ust29 Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Dharma ransomware |
| Extension | .Ust29 |
| Contact | [email protected], [email protected] |
| Detection | MSIL/Spy.Agent.DSV, TrojanSpy:Win32/Delgent, Trojan.Ransom.Magniber |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .Ust29 extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Ust29 virus |
The note coming in package with the Ust29 malware provides the following dispiriting information:
::: Greetings ::: Little FAQ: .1. Q: Whats Happen? A: Your files have been encrypted. The file structure was not damaged, we did everything possible so that this could not happen. .2. Q: How to recover files? A: If you wish to decrypt your files you will need to pay in one of the types of cryptocurrency. .3. Q: What about guarantees? A: 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 cooperate with us. Its not in our interests. To check the ability of returning files, you can send to us any 2 files with SIMPLE extensions(jpg,doc, etc... not databases!) and low sizes(max 1 mb), we will decrypt them and send back to you. That is our guarantee. .4. Q: How to contact with you? A: Please, write us to our qTOX account: 32308809B05685C4B36DBD3230D3BBCEDB137 21C921353948C932B744274A3038E68BCCD1654 You can learn about this way of communication and download it here: hxxps://qtox.github.io/ Send us a friend request in the app and wait the support become online. If you have not received an answer within 12 hours, use Bitmessage and write to our address: BM-NBurNHVRvKzmESPve8ZQz73m7AgyQyHV You can learn about this way of communication and download it here: hxxps://wiki.bitmessage.org/ and here: hxxps://github.com/Bitmessage/PyBitmessage/releases/ .5. Q: How will the decryption process proceed after payment? A: After payment we will send to you our scanner-decoder program and detailed instructions for use. With this program you will be able to decrypt all your encrypted files. After full decryption, we will point out your security problems and help you fix them. .6. Q: If I don’t want to pay bad people like you? A: If you will not cooperate with our service - for us, it\'s does not matter. But you will lose your time and data, cause only we have the private key. In practice - time is much more valuable than money. :::BEWARE::: DON\'T try to change encrypted files by yourself! If you will try to use any third party software for restoring your data or antivirus solutions - please make a backup for all encrypted files! Any changes in encrypted files may entail damage of the private key and, as result, the loss all data. Key Identifier: - Number of files that were processed is: - PC Hardware ID: -
In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Ust29 looks like. Each filename has the “.Ust29” extension appended to it.
An example of encrypted .Ust29 files.
How did Ust29 ransomware end up on my PC?
There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.
Nowadays, there are three most popular ways for criminals to have the Ust29 virus working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer file transfer.
If you open your inbox and see emails that look just like notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is unknown to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are very likely to have a viral item enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with letters like these.
As for the peer networks like torrent trackers or eMule, the danger 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 resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.
How do I get rid of the Ust29 virus?
It is crucial to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Ust29 virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Often racketeers would decrypt several of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption tool. Since Ust29 virus is a relatively new ransomware, safety measures engineers have not yet found a method to reverse its work. However, the anti-ransomware tools are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.
Sure thing, if the hackers do the job of encoding someone’s essential files, the desperate person will most likely 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 money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the victim. There were reports of ransomware developers simply disappearing after getting the ransom without even writing back.
The best solution against ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external storage. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that one you were working on when it all happened. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the system restoration.
Ust29 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 Udla, Tuid, Kxde, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Ust29 are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encoded files.
Some lucky users were able to decrypt the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-malware experts. Sometimes the criminals mistakenly send the decoding key to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But naturally, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.
How to avoid ransomware infection?
Ust29 ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.
You can defend yourself from its attack taking several easy steps:
- Ignore any letters from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (how can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious letter with caution. A hoax letter will surely contain a mistake.
- Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as a part of cracked software, most likely as a “patch” which prevents the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to tell from reliable ones, as trojans may also have the functionality you need. You can try to find information on this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such software.
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”.
FAQ
🤔 Is it possible to open “.Ust29” files?
Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.Ust29” files first. Then you will be able to open them.
🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.Ust29” files ASAP. How can I do that?
If the “.Ust29” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. 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 should I do if the Ust29 virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.
🤔 And what should I do now?
Some of the encrypted 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 give those pictures back to you.
- If you have initially got any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
- Your messengers, social networks 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, cellphone, external storage, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can use file recovery utilities5 to get your lost data back since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing the original 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 ransomware itself 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.
Leave a Comment