WAGNER Virus (.WAGNER Files) — How to Remove?

The Wagner virus belongs with the ransomware type of infection. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your PC (images, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its extra extension to every file, creating the WAGNER.txt files in every folder containing encrypted files.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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Wagner virus: what is known so far?

A strictly correct description for the Wagner is “a ransomware infection”.

Wagner adds its specific .WAGNER extension to every file’s name. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be renamed to “photo.jpg.WAGNER”. Likewise, the Excel table named “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.WAGNER”, and so forth.

In every directory with the encoded files, a WAGNER.txt file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you should be able to find information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. However, it is not the case of WAGNER ransomware. Its ransom note contains only a message in Russian that offers to join the Telegram channel of Russian Wagner PMC, that is known for the recent anti-govt coup. Possibly, mercenaries look for human resources in such a harsh way.

Wagner abstract:

The WAGNER.txt document coming in package with the Wagner malware provides the following frustrating information:

Официальный вирус  ЧВК Вагнера по трудоустройству ®️
Вакансии. Служба в ЧВК Вагнер
По сотрудничеству:
Канал не предназначен для агитации, склонения, вербовки и иного вовлечения лиц в совершение противоправных деяний.
Братья хватит терпеть Власть! идем на войну против Шойгу!
Москва: +7(985)008-02-40
Московская область: +7(985)008-02-73 если хотите пойти против чиновников!
Привет от Пригожина!      hxxps://t.me/wagnernew

In the screenshot below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Wagner looks like. Each filename has the “.WAGNER” extension appended to it.

That is how encrypted “.WAGNER” files look.

How did Wagner ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular ways for malefactors to have ransomware settled in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer file transfer.

If you access your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services companies, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is strange to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a malicious item attached to them. Therefore, it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan file scheme. A Trojan is a program that gets into your machine pretending to be something else. For example, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some program. However, what is unpacked reveals itself a harmful agent that encrypts your data. Since the installation wizard can have any title and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the source of the things you’re downloading. The optimal thing is to trust the software developers’ official websites.

As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like torrent trackers or eMule, the danger 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. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded files with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is finished.

How to remove the Wagner virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Wagner virus will probably deploy Vidar Stealer on your PC to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes criminals would unblock several of your files so you know that they really have the decryption tool. As Wagner virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a method to undo its work. Nevertheless, the anti-ransomware tools are constantly upgraded, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Understandably, if the criminals do the job of encoding victim’s critical data, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still risky. After receiving the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports about malefactors simply vanishing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.

The best safety measure 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. Obviously, that might be insufficient. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working on when it all happened. But at least it is something. It is also wise to scan your drives with the antivirus program after the system restoration.

Wagner 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 Tghz, Tgvv, Tgpo, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Wagner are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is almost identical: documents become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes emerge in every folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky victims were able to decode the blocked files with the aid of the free tools provided by anti-malware developers. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption key to the victims in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a tamperers’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.

How to avoid ransomware infiltration?

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

You can protect yourself from ransomware infiltration 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 waiting for (can you win in a lottery without even taking part in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, check all elements of the dubious email carefully. A fake email will surely have mistakes.
• Do not use cracked or untrusted software. Trojans are often shared as an element of cracked products, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. Understandably, potentially dangerous programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy software, because trojans may also have the functionality you seek. Try to find information on this software product on the anti-malware forums, but the optimal way is not to use such programs at all.
• And finally, to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a powerful shield for your PC.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft¹

There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft².

Download Removal Tool.

You can download GridinSoft Anti-Malware by clicking the button below:

Run the setup file.

When setup file has finished downloading, double-click on the setup-antimalware-fix.exe file to install GridinSoft Anti-Malware on your computer.

An User Account Control asking you about to allow GridinSoft Anti-Malware to make changes to your device. So, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware will automatically start scanning your PC for Wagner infections and other malicious programs. This process can take a 20-30 minutes, so I suggest you periodically check on the status of the scan process.

Click on “Clean Now”.

When the scan has completed, you will see the list of infections that GridinSoft Anti-Malware has detected. To remove them click on the “Clean Now” button in right corner.

FAQ

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

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

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

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. The rest of the methods require patience.

If GridinSoft deletes the Wagner malware, will it also delete my files that were encrypted?

Absolutely not! Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with active threats. The malware that has infiltrated your PC is probably still active and running scans every so often to encrypt any new files you might create on your PC after the infection. As it has already been said, the Wagner malware comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide hackers with easy access to your system after some time.

What to do if the Wagner malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

If that happened, you need to prepare a memory stick with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to do the cleaning. The point is that the ransomware starts automatically as the system launches and encodes any new files created or brought into your PC. To block this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital programs to run automatically. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

What could help the situation right now?

Many of the blocked files might still be within your reach

• If you exchanged your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Just ask them to send those pictures back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a notebook, mobile, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can use data recovery programs³ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial 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 eradicate the virus 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.

1. GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
2. More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
3. Here’s the list of Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.