Geek's Advice

MLJX ransomware endangers your access to personal files

MLJX ransomware is a malicious file-encrypting virus from STOP/DJVU ransomware family. After breaking into the target computer system, the virus starts encrypting all files in the system, adding .mljx extension and dropping ransom notes called _readme.txt in every folder. For example, a file called 1.jpg becomes 1.jpg.mljx after the attack. According to the note left by virus operators, the only way to get MLJX decryption tool is to pay a ransom which costs $490 if paid within 72 hours or $980 if later.

The sole ambition of MLJX ransomware virus developers is to lock victim’s data so that one could no longer access important work or study files or simply personal memories. The algorithm of this virus leverages extremely robust encryption algorithms – Salsa20 additionally secured with RSA-2048-bit key. The attackers suggest contacting them as soon as possible for further instructions. The only way to reach them is to write to provided email addresses – manager@mailtemp.ch and helprestoremanager@airmail.cc.

The ransom note provided in _readme.txt file explains that all files on the computer, including photos, videos, archives and documents have been encrypted with the strongest encryption and the only way to get access to them is to pay a large sum of money to the criminals. According to them, they are willing to reduce the decryption price to $490 if the victim contacts them within 72 hours. Otherwise, the victim has to pay the full amount – $980. Clearly, the transaction needs to be made in cryptocurrency so that the crooks couldn’t be tracked down by FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

Victims who decide to reach out to the attackers will be instructed to purchase Bitcoins or another cryptocurrency worth the specified amount and transfer it to a provided virtual wallet address. To encourage the victim to pay up, they also suggest test decryption service. In order to use it, the victim has to send one encrypted file as attachment to the email addresses provided. The attackers will deny decryption on files that contain valuable information since the test decryption procedure is only meant to prove that the attackers can restore files, not to recover valuable information to you.

No matter the circumstances or how desperate the situation appears to be, cybersecurity experts from our team recommend you to avoid following cybercriminals’ demands. You should avoid paying ransoms to criminals and the same is pointed out by FBI advisory guidelines to ransomware victims. The very first reason to avoid doing so is that paying doesn’t guarantee file recovery. For example, the attackers might vanish right after convincing you to pay up. They collect millions in ransoms annually and paying only encourages them to continue their malicious operations. Besides, if you pay, you will be identified as a potential target in further attacks.

What is also important to know is that this ransomware drops information-stealing Trojans on your system, either VIDAR or AZORULT, which can collect information that can be useful in further blackmailing attempts. These Trojans are capable of stealing saved passwords, cryptocurrency wallets, browsing history, viewing and deleting files from your file system or downloading additional malware to the system.

All things considered, it is essential to remove MLJX ransomware virus from your computer as soon as you can. This should be done while computer is in Safe Mode with Networking state. You can find a detailed tutorial on how to do it right below this article. It is also equally important to use a robust antivirus solution, because when it comes to severe computer infection like this, we do not advise trying to hunt down and delete virus’ components manually. If you do not have antivirus yet, we recommend using one tested and reviewed by our team – INTEGO Antivirus. You may also want to download RESTORO to detect and repair virus damage on Windows OS files.

Ransomware Summary

REMOVE MALWARE & REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE

Ransomware distribution tactics to be aware of

Nobody wants to get infected with ransomware – therefore, it is important to familiarise yourself with common malware distribution techniques used to spread these computer infections. The first technique that we must talk about is associated with all STOP/DJVU variants, including MLJX ransomware virus. It appears that operators of these threats rely on only one method – malicious torrents, especially various software cracks. They aim at people who look for ways to activate premium software versions for free, so they inject the malicious ransomware-downloading script to fake software activation tools. Once the victim tries to make use of such activation tool, the script downloads and runs the malware on the system.

We have received variety of reports from victims affected by STOP/DJVU ransomware versions and compiled a list of software they attempted to download via torrents and activate illegally that resulted in an immediate computer data lockdown. Beware that this list isn’t finite and trying to activate any program or game through unofficial sources can get your computer compromised.

• League of Legends;
• Fifa 20;
• Tenorshare 4ukey;
• AutoCad;
• Cubase;
• Opera browser;
• Corel Draw;
• VMware Workstation;
• Adobe Illustrator;
• Adobe Photoshop;
• Internet Download Manager;
• KMSPico (illegal Windows activation tool).

If you have the bad habit of downloading unconfirmed software versions from online torrent listings and trying to activate them with a help of software cracks or license key generators, you risk getting your PC contaminated not only with ransomware, but with various adware, Trojans, browser hijackers, cryptocurrency miners and even backdoors. Remember that the damage caused by these threats can result in much higher expenses than a legitimate software license actually costs. For this reason, we recommend you to avoid such suspicious sources for software downloads and when you need a specific program, visit its official developer’s or confirmed partner’s website to get a safe and legitimate copy of the software or game. This is the only way to get fully functional software without malicious additions.

Remember that you should never ignore your antivirus software warnings regarding dangerous downloads. If you do not have such security software yet, you should definitely think about investing in one that can protect your computer from malicious downloads in real-time.

Another popular way to spread ransomware viruses is attaching malicious documents to emails. The attackers may pretend to be someone you know or representatives of well-known companies – so you should never open email attachments that come unexpected. For example, if you didn’t order anything online, do not risk inspecting an email stating there’s a parcel on a way to you. Moreover, criminals tend to name malicious attachments as regular documents used in daily communications, for instance, invoices, missing payment notices, waybills and similar. Do not let your curiosity trick you into opening a dangerous file that contains scripts used to download and run ransomware on your computer. Look out for red flags such as unfamiliar email greeting line, suspicious URLs attached (hover on the included links, but do not click on them to see what’s attached). Remember that criminals use email spoofing techniques to hide the real sender’s address and display another, legitimate-looking one for you!).

Finally, victims of STOP/DJVU ransomware, or any ransomware in general, should refrain themselves from visiting suspicious online sources claiming to be capable of decrypting their files. Cybersecurity experts warn that there are a lot of scams claiming that someone can decrypt your files locked with online key (you may see these scams in Facebook or Instagram comments suggesting to contact someone on Whatsapp or Instagram). These scammers can rip you off financially and simply pay the cybercriminals instead of you, or offer you to download suspicious tools that can contain even more malware. Additionally, avoid visiting unconfirmed online resources offering decryption tools as these are used by ransomware operators to infect victims with a secondary payload that will leave your files double-encrypted.

MLJX ransomware infection flow

It is understandable that if you have fallen victim to MLJX ransomware virus, now you want to figure out the scope of damage inflicted upon your computer. Therefore, if you’re interested in more technical details, this section is for you.

The ransomware begins the attack by launching several executables which may be named as build.exe, build2.exe or build3.exe. At the same time, the virus launches a fake Windows update prompt called winupdate.exe, which is meant to deceive the victim who is starting to wonder what caused the sudden system slowdown. At the same time, the ransomware prepares for the attack by collecting some information about the system into information.txt file and sending it to the attackers’ Command & Control server. This file may contain details such as computer name, operating system used, hardware specifics, active processes and the list of installed software names.

Next, the ransomware tries to connect to https[:]//api.2ip.ua/geo.json domain and saves the response into geo.json file. The response typically consists of information about the compromised computer’s geolocation, including country code, zip code, longitude, latitude, time zone and similar. You can see some examples of this file down below.

It is typical for a ransomware virus to bypass infecting computers in certain regions as wished by its operators. Sometimes, the criminals avoid compromising computers in countries that are known to rarely pay up. In other cases, the attackers avoid infecting computers from a region they are from. In this case, the virus ceases its operations if it detects that the computer user is a resident of one of the following countries: Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Russia, Syria, Uzbekistan, Kazachstan, Armenia, Belarus or Tajikistan. If none of these country codes are matched, the ransomware continues the attack and prepares for the actual encryption stage.

The virus attempts to connect to its Command&Control server once again to request a unique encryption key (known as the online key). If this fails, the virus uses a hardcoded offline key instead (identical per all victims of offline encryption for the same virus variant). To illustrate, there is one offline key per all MLJX virus version, another one per all HGSH virus version, and so on. No matter if online or offline key is used, the virus saves it along unique victim’s ID to bowasakkdestx.txt file and also saves the ID into PersonalID.txt file. Examples of these files are shown below.

When it comes to MLJX file decryption, the chances are limited only to victims of offline encryption. This is explained in detail in this STOP/DJVU decryption/repair guide on our website. Victims of online encryption can only recover their files if they have a data backup.

After preparing the encryption key, the ransomware begins encrypting all files on the target system using Salsa20 algorithm and then securing the encryption key used with the RSA-2048 key (online or offline). A screenshot of data folder affected by the ransomware is presented below.

To let the computer user know what happened to the personal files, the virus drops _readme.txt note in every directory. A screenshot of this ransom note is shown below.

The ransomware then proceeds to delete Volume Shadow Copies from the system to prevent the usage of existing System Restore points. The virus may run the following command via Command Prompt:

^{vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet}

Finally, some versions of STOP/DJVU compromise the system further and drop AZORULT or VIDAR Trojan on the system to collect private information such as passwords, banking details, browsing history and similar. To strengthen the damage to the system, the virus may also modify Windows HOSTS file by adding a list of website names to restrict access to. This is done primarily to block victim’s access to useful information resources online. As a consequence, the victim may run into DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error when trying to enter these domains.

Remove MLJX Ransomware Virus and Recover Your Files

If you have unfortunately fallen victim to STOP/DJVU ransomware attack and now your files have extensions mentioned previously, we strongly advise you to remove MLJX ransomware virus as soon as you can. For this task, we recommend using a powerful antivirus software. Do not forget to update its virus’ definitions database first to ensure that it can detect the latest malware samples available in the wild. In case you do not have a security software yet, consider using INTEGO Antivirus, which is one of the best choices nowadays. It provides 24/7 real-time protection and has excellent malware detection rates at a fraction of a price. Moreover, you may want to take additional step and download RESTORO to identify and repair virus damage on Windows OS files.

Additional post-ransomware attack measures include reporting and discussing the cybercrime incident with your local law enforcement authorities, creating backups of encrypted data (although highly unlikely, in case a decryption tool appears one day) and changing all of your passwords associated with the compromised computer (including those saved in web browsers and other accounts).

The guide on MLJX ransomware virus removal is provided down below.

OUR GEEKS RECOMMEND

Our team recommends a two-step rescue plan to remove ransomware and other remaining malware from your computer, plus repair caused virus damage to the system:

STEP 1. REMOVE AUTOMATICALLY WITH ROBUST ANTIVIRUS

REMOVE & PROTECT WITH INTEGO

Get INTEGO ANTIVIRUS for Windows to remove ransomware, Trojans, adware and other spyware and malware variants and protect your PC and network drives 24/7.. This VB100-certified security software uses state-of-art technology to provide protection against ransomware, Zero-Day attacks and advanced threats, Intego Web Shield blocks dangerous websites, phishing attacks, malicious downloads and installation of potentially unwanted programs.

Use INTEGO Antivirus to remove detected threats from your computer.

Read full review here.

STEP 2. REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER

DOWNLOAD RESTORO

RESTORO provides a free scan that helps to identify hardware, security and stability issues and presents a comprehensive report which can help you to locate and fix detected issues manually. It is a great PC repair software to use after you remove malware with professional antivirus. The full version of software will fix detected issues and repair virus damage caused to your Windows OS files automatically.

RESTORO uses AVIRA scanning engine to detect existing spyware and malware. If any are found, the software will eliminate them.

Read full review here.

GeeksAdvice.com editors select recommended products based on their effectiveness. We may earn a commission from affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Norbert Webb

Norbert Webb is the head of Geek’s Advice team. He is the chief editor of the website who controls the quality of content published. The man also loves reading cybersecurity news, testing new software and sharing his insights on them. Norbert says that following his passion for information technology was one of the best decisions he has ever made. “I don’t feel like working while I’m doing something I love.” However, the geek has other interests, such as snowboarding and traveling.