XSPACE Virus Files of Ransomware — How to remove virus?

The Xspace virus belongs under the VoidCrypt ransomware family. Harmful software of such sort encrypts all the data on your PC (photos, documents, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its specific extension to every file, leaving the Decryption-Guide.txt text files in each folder with the encrypted files.

What is Xspace virus?

☝️ A strictly accurate designation for the Xspace is “a VoidCrypt family ransomware infection”.

The scheme of renaming is the following: id-*******.[email address].xSpace. In the course of encryption, a file named, for example, “report.docx” will be changed to “report.docx.id-1fjD371BQ003.[[email protected]].xSpace”.

In each folder containing the encoded files, a Decryption-Guide.txt text file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the tamperers. You can get this decoding tool after contacting [email protected] by email. That is it.

Xspace outline:

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

How did Xspace ransomware end up on my PC?

There are plenty of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular methods for hackers to have the Xspace virus planted in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you access your mailbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is strange to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a malware item enclosed in them. Therefore, it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.

As for the peer-to-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 guess 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 anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Xspace virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Xspace 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 derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often criminals would decode few of your files to prove that they really have the decryption tool. As Xspace virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decryption tools are constantly upgraded, so the solution may soon arrive.

Sure thing, if the tamperers do the job of encoding victim’s critical files, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. However, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your files back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the money, the racketeers may deliver a wrong decryption key to the injured party. There were reports of ransomware developers just disappearing after getting the ransom without even bothering to reply.

The best 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 disk. Surely, that might be insufficient. The most important 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 PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS restoration.

There are other ransomware products, besides Xspace, that work similarly. For instance, Qbaa, Ooii, Fgui, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Xspace are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is almost identical: documents become blocked, their extensions altered, ransom notes appear in each folder containing encoded files.

Some fortunate victims were able to decrypt the arrested files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the criminals mistakenly send the decoding key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the user to restore the files. But obviously, one should never expect such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a bandits’ tool to pull the money out of their victims.

How do I avert ransomware injection?

Xspace ransomware has no endless power, neither does any similar malware.

You can defend yourself from its injection within three easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown mailboxes with unknown addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the questionable letter carefully. A fake letter will always contain a mistake.
• Avoid using cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often distributed as an element of cracked software, most likely under the guise of “patch” to prevent the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to tell from reliable software, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. Try to find information on this software product 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 “.id-*******.[email address].xSpace” files?

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

🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?

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 Xspace malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Some of the blocked data can be located elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files by email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You may 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 Web, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud disks might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old computer, a laptop, mobile, external storage, etc.

HINT: You can employ data recovery programs⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the original ones. In the video below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you eradicate the ransomware itself with an anti-malware 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. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. Here are Best Data Recovery Software Of 2023.