CryptoMix Ransomware Removal Guide

CryptoMix Ransomware is a constantly evolving and growing family of dangerous ransomware. We have seen newer and newer variants hit the web, including Azer Ransomware and Exte Ransomware lately. But a bit later new variants called Zayka, Noob, and Mole03 emerged among a few others. This threat is also similar to CryptoWall 3.0 and CryptoWall 4.0 with the exception that these criminals claim that the money they collect will be used for charity purposes. Well, certainly a “heart-warming” initiation but not one that you could think of as a good experience. In fact, there is a good chance that you could lose all your important files in this attack even though some of the variants have already been cracked by eager malware hunters and the free decryption tools are available on the web. It is always worth trying to find such a tool before giving up. Although if you are not a computer savvy we would recommend that you find a friend who is and ask him to help out because you could cause more problems by downloading the wrong tool. We advise you to remove CryptoMix Ransomware immediately whichever variant has infected you.

In fact, there are a couple of ways how this dangerous ransomware can slither onto your system. First and foremost, it is most likely that these criminals will fish for victims via spamming campaigns. So you may find a mail in your spam folder that would probably catch your eye because otherwise you would just bin it without even checking. This spam could look totally authentic at first sight coming from a well-known company or even the authorities. The subject matter would normally relate to an unpaid invoice, wrongly given credit card details, problem with a flight booking, and so on. These are typically matters that you could not say no to checking out even if you would feel that they could not relate to you. However, when you open such a spam, you would most likely open the attachment as well since that is what is suggested in the body. This file attachment is indeed the malicious file that activates this attack. You can imagine what happens when you try to view it. Unfortunately, even if you delete CryptoMix Ransomware, this can only take place after your files have been encoded and become useless.

Another possible way to get hit by this dangerous program is so-called RDP attacks, which means that cyber criminals gain access to your system by breaking in via remote desktop software. If you do not protect your computer with powerful passwords, crooks can figure them out even by using brute force attacks. In this case the infection is planted and activated manually so you will definitely not notice anything until it is too late. We also need to mention the possibility of getting infected by Exploit Kits, such as Angler. You may click on corrupt third-party ads or links on suspicious websites or generated by malware on your system, and this is how you may be redirected to a malicious page that is rigged with such kits. It is enough for your browser to load such a page and this infection could be automatically dropped and activated without your knowledge. In order to prevent such an attack from happening, you need to keep all your browsers and drivers updated. Please note that removing CryptoMix Ransomware will not give your files back.

This ransomware uses the RSA-2048 encryption algorithm, which makes it very difficult if not impossible to crack. It targets all your personal files in order to cause as much damage as possible to convince you to pay the demanded ransom fee. In fact, this family is known to target over 800 file extensions. As we have said there have been a number of variants lately and all of them use different extensions. Therefore, it is possible that your variant used any one of these: “.OGONIA,” “.ZERO,” “.MOLE,” among a number of others. Thus, your encrypted files may look something like this: “4CB4CD301G5225B125BB8CA62WEC0768.OGONIA” or “4CB4CD301G5225B125BB8CA62WEC0768.MOLE.” This threat drops the ransom note called “_HELP_INSTRUCTION.TXT,” “RESTORING FILES #.TXT,” or something similar in every affected folder.

This ransom note lets you know that you cannot access your files anymore, i.e., that they have been encrypted. You are asked to transfer a considerable amount of money in Bitcoins to a given Bitcoin wallet address. You also have to send an e-mail to a given e-mail address (e.g., xoomx[@]dr.com) that is different for all variants. We do not advise you to send any money to these criminals because nobody can guarantee that you will get your decryption key. It is more likely that you get a new infection instead. We recommend that you remove CryptoMix Ransomware right away.

Since this dangerous infection may have a start up task created, you should start eliminating it by deleting all suspicious tasks. Then, you can bin the related files and restart your computer. Please follow our guide below if you think you can manage manual removal yourself. If you prefer to use an automated tool, we advise you to employ a reliable anti-malware program, such SpyHunter. Should you have any questions regarding the removal of CryptoMix Ransomware, please leave us a comment below.

Remove scheduled tasks possibly related to CryptoMix Ransomware

1. Tap Win+R and type regedit. Click OK.
2. Identify and delete the suspicious random-name value name in “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run” registry key whose value data points to the malicious executable in “%AppData%” (“BC1CFBB99D.exe” or any other random name).
3. Exit your editor.
4. Launch your Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
5. Select the Start-up tab.
6. Locate the suspicious program in the list and click Disable.
7. Exit your Task Manager.
8. Tap Win+E to open File Explorer.
9. Open the %WINDIR%\Tasks and %WINDIR%\System32\Tasks folders.
10. Find and delete the suspicious task that could be linked to CryptoMix Ransomware.
11. Empty your Recycle bin.

How to remove CryptoMix Ransomware from Windows

1. Tap Win+E.
2. Open the %APPDATA% folder and check for a suspicious random-name file like “BC1CFBB99D.exe”
3. If found, delete the file.
4. Delete any suspicious file you have downloaded recently.
5. Bin all the ransom note files.
6. Empty your Recycle Bin.
7. Reboot your PC.