UST29 Virus Files of Ransomware — How to remove?

The Ust29 virus falls within the Dharma ransomware family. Malware of this type encrypts all user’s data on the PC (images, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, creating the FILES ENCRYPTED.txt files in every directory containing encrypted files.

What is known about the Ust29virus?

☝️ A strictly correct denomination for the Ust29 is “a Dharma family ransomware-type infection”.

The pattern of renaming is this: id-*******.[email address].ust29. During the encryption, a file named, for instance, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx..id-9ECFA84E.[[email protected]].ust29”.

In every directory with the encoded files, a FILES ENCRYPTED.txt text document will be found. 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 purchase the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can obtain this decrypting software after contacting [email protected] through email. That is basically the scheme of the crime.

Ust29 outline:

In the screenshot below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Ust29 looks like. Each filename has the “.id-*******.[email address].ust29” extension added to it.

How did my computer get infected with Ust29 ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.

There are currently three most exploited methods for malefactors to have ransomware settled in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.

If you open your mailbox and see letters that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a harmful file attached to them. Therefore, it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the peer-to-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. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the directory containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is complete.

How to remove the Ust29 virus?

It is important to inform you that besides encrypting your data, the Ust29 virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes racketeers would unblock several of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption program. Since Ust29 virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a method to undo its work. Nevertheless, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly updated, so the solution may soon be available.

Of course, if the tamperers succeed in encoding someone’s essential files, the hopeless person will most likely fulfill their demands. However, paying to criminals gives no guarantee that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still risky. After obtaining the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption code to the victim. There were reports of ransomware developers simply disappearing after getting the money 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 storage or at least on an external disk. Obviously, that might be not enough. Your most important thing could be that file you were working upon when it all started. But at least it is something. It is also advisable to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the system is rolled back.

There are other ransomware products, besides Ust29, that work similarly. For instance, Udla, Tuid, Kxde, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Ust29 are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: files become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in each folder containing encoded files.

Some fortunate people were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free software provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decryption key to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But obviously, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a criminals’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How сan I avert ransomware attack?

Ust29 ransomware has no superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can protect your computer from its attack in several easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are waiting for (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the suspicious email carefully. A hoax letter will always have mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often shared as a part of cracked products, possibly as a “patch” to prevent the license check. But dubious programs are difficult to distinguish from trustworthy software, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. You can try to find information about this program 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”.

FAQ

🤔 Can I somehow access “.id-*******.[email address].ust29” files?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.id-*******.[email address].ust29” files are decrypted.

🤔 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. 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. The rest of the methods require patience.

🤔 What should I do if the Ust29 virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Some of the blocked data can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged 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 family members. Just ask them to post those images back to you.
• If you have initially got any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud disks might have all those files as well.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a notebook, phone, flash memory, etc.

HINT: You can use file recovery programs⁵ to get your lost data back since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the video below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but be advised: 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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