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Old external drive encrypted by ransomware -- any solutions ?


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Following the collapse of the family business, while salvaging the hard drives from the company PC's, we have retrieved a key drive with the most important company files.   The majority of the files on the key drive were apparently encrypted by ransomware more than 10 years ago, but some later files have not been encrypted.   I'm not sure what if anything the former user did when the ransomware appeared.

When I connected the infected drive to my laptop via USB and ran MB Premium, I got 20 infected files with general malware and PUP's, of course I quarantined those.   The encrypted files are still visible in Explorer, however they each have a new file extension.

Is there a procedure using MB and other software to decrypt these files ?

Also I have MB scanned my laptop and no malware is detected.   I have also ESET-scanned the laptop, no problems detected.    Do I need to do anything else ?

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10 minutes ago, RockyTwiz said:

Is there a procedure using MB and other software to decrypt these files ?

Malwarebytes cant.

Sign up for a forum account on BleepingComputer and follow the directions from these topics.


Ransomware Help & Tech Support
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/f/239/ransomware-help-tech-support/

How to Post a Topic Asking for Help With Ransomware
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/608844/how-to-post-a-topic-asking-for-help-with-ransomware/


ID Ransomware - Identify What Ransomware Encrypted Your Files
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/608858/id-ransomware-identify-what-ransomware-encrypted-your-files/

https://id-ransomware.malwarehunterteam.com/


Thank you

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Thanks.   I'll pursue the solution you suggested for the encrypted drive.

Meanwhile, is there anything else I should do to protect my laptop from getting the ransomware infection ?   MB premium scans show nothing, ESET Online scans show nothing.

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6 minutes ago, RockyTwiz said:

Meanwhile, is there anything else I should do to protect my laptop from getting the ransomware infection ?

Do not open unknown, unexpected attachments in emails. Do not use P2P software to download copywritten content or hacked/cracked software also avoid sites that offer such software.

Keep backups of all important data on an external drive and keep that drive disconnected from your system unless doing a backup.

 

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  • Root Admin

We can assist you in scanning your computer if you like, but so can the team over on Bleepingcomputer.

The reason we recommend to go there is because they may possibly know if your specific attack has tools to recover your data or not.

If you're not concerned about the data then we can help you scan the computer. But if not worried about the data you might want to also consider doing a CLEAN install of Windows.

 

Clean Install Windows 10 & 11 (2023)
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/clean-install-windows-10-11-2023/1c426bdf-79b1-4d42-be93-17378d93e587

Also, please review the following topic

Bypass Microsoft Online Account Creation during installation of Windows 11
https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/296613-bypass-microsoft-online-account-creation-during-installation-of-windows-11/

 

 

For staying safe, see the following

 

The following information will help you to keep your computer and data safer as well as improve your overall privacy

  1. Recommend using a Password Manager for all websites, etc. that require a password. Never use the same password on more than one site.
    https://www.howtogeek.com/780233/best-password-manager/
  2. Make sure you're backing up your files https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/136226-backup-software/
  3. Keep all software up to date - PatchMyPC - https://patchmypc.com/home-updater#download     https://patchmypc.com/about-us
  4. Keep your Operating System up to date and current at all times - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update-faq-8a903416-6f45-0718-f5c7-375e92dddeb2
  5. Further tips to help protect your computer data and improve your privacy: https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/258363-tips-to-help-protect-from-infection/ 
  6. Please consider installing the following Content Blockers for your Web browsers if you haven't done so already. This will help improve overall security

Malwarebytes Browser Guard

uBlock Origin

 

Cybersecurity basics & protection
Everything you need to know about cybercrime
https://www.malwarebytes.com/cybersecurity

 

Further reading if you'd like to keep up on the malware threat scene: Malwarebytes Blog  https://blog.malwarebytes.com/

 

 

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