BLACKBIT Ransomware 🔐 (.BLACKBIT File) — Removal Guide

Blackbit virus: what is known so far?

The scheme of renaming is the following: [contact_email][victimID]%file_name%.BlackBit. As a part of encryption, a file named, for instance, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx.[][9ECFA84E]report.docx.BlackBit”.

In every folder containing the encoded files, a Restore-My-Files.txt text document will be found. It is a ransom money memo. Therein you can find information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains a description of how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can obtain this decoding tool after contacting by email. That is it.

Name	Blackbit Virus
Extension	.BlackBit
Ransomware note	Restore-My-Files.txt
Contact
Detection¹	Cydoor.Adware.Advertising.DDS, Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Blocker.pef, Win32/GenKryptik.GCGO
Symptoms	Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .BlackBit extension and you can’t open them.
Fix Tool	GridinSoft Anti-MalwareSee If Your System Has Been Affected by Blackbit virus

The Restore-My-Files.txt document coming in package with the Blackbit ransomware provides the following discouraging information:

!!!All of your files are encrypted!!!
To decrypt them send e-mail to this address:
In case of no answer in 24h, send e-mail to this address:
You can also contact us via Telegram: @Spystar_Support
All your files will be lost on Thursday, October 20, 2022 9:51:06 AM.
Your SYSTEM ID : -
!!!Deleting \"Cpriv.BlackBit\" causes permanent data loss.

In the screenshot below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Blackbit looks like. Each filename has the “.BlackBit” extension added to it.

Files encrypted by BlackBit ransomware

How did my machine catch Blackbit ransomware?

There are currently three most exploited methods for malefactors to have ransomware acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer networks.

If you access your inbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is strange to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a malicious item attached to them. Thus it is even more dangerous to download any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan file model². A Trojan is an object that gets into your machine disguised as something legal. For example, you download an installer of some program you want or an update for some software. However, what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful agent that corrupts your data. As the update package can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the things you’re downloading. The optimal way is to use the software developers’ official websites.

As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat 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 websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded items with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of the Blackbit virus?

Often criminals would decode some of your files so you know that they indeed have the decryption program. As Blackbit virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the decoding instruments are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Of course, if the criminals do the job of encoding someone’s critical data, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. Nevertheless, paying to racketeers gives no guarantee that you’re getting your blocked information back. It is still dangerous. After getting the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports of hackers just disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud storage or at least on an external drive. Obviously, that might be not enough. The most crucial thing could be that file you were working on when it all happened. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also advisable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the system is rolled back.

There are other ransomware products, besides Blackbit, that work similarly. For instance, Nuis, Powd, Bowd, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Blackbit are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: documents become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes appear in every folder containing encoded files.

Some lucky users were able to decrypt the blocked files with the help of the free tools provided by anti-malware specialists. Sometimes the hackers 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. Remember, ransomware is a tamperers’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How to avert ransomware injection?

You can protect your system from ransomware infiltration within three easy steps:

Ignore any letters from unknown mailboxes with strange addresses, or with content that has nothing to do with something you are expecting (how can you win in a money prize draw without participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are expecting, check all elements of the questionable letter with caution. A fake email will always have mistakes.
Avoid using cracked or unknown software. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as a part of cracked software, possibly under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But dubious programs are difficult to distinguish from reliable software, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try searching for information about this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the best solution is not to use such software.
And to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, use GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This program will be a powerful shield for your PC.

There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft">⁴.

Download Removal Tool.

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

Download GridinSoft Anti-Malware

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 system.

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 computer for Blackbit 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 Can I somehow access “.BlackBit” files?

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

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

If the “.BlackBit” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. 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.

🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Blackbit virus?

No way! The encrypted files are not harmful, so they won’t be deleted.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware only deals with actual threats. The ransomware that has infected your device is must be still active and running scans every so often to encode any new files you might create on your computer after the infection. As it has been mentioned above, the Blackbit virus does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide malefactors with easy access to your computer in the future.

🤔 What actions should I take if the Blackbit malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation key.

In such an unfortunate situation, you need to have a flash memory drive with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the cleaning. The point is that the ransomware runs automatically as the system boots and encodes any new files created or imported into your computer. To block this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital applications to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Many of the blocked files might still be at your disposal

If you exchanged your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mail server.
You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to give those images back to you.
If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Web, you can try doing it again.
Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, cellphone, memory stick, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encodes the copies of your files, removing the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but remember: you can do it only after 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.

References

Encyclopedia of threats.
You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site:
More information about GridinSoft products:
Here’s the list of the top 10 file recovery tools of 2021.