What is Xorist Ransomware
Divinity, Matafaka, and Army are three ransomware infections released by the development group known as Xorist. After your system becomes successfully infected, a virus forces most of the stored files to change their names. Depending on which version attacked your PC, any image, video, music, or document file like 1.pdf will change to 1.pdf.divinity, 1.pdf.matafaka, or 1.pdf.army. After each file ends up visually changed, the above-mentioned versions display a text message in pop-up windows or notepad files (HOW TO DECRYPT FILES.txt).
Attention! All your files are encrypted!
To restore your files and access them,
please pay
You have 5 attempts to enter the code.
When that number has been exceeded,
all the data irreversibly is destroyed.
Be careful when you enter the code!
========================================
Attention! Your files have been encrypted by divinity ransomware!
To restore your files and access them,
Contact @lulzed on telegram
Twitter @dissimilate
If you try to Decrypt your files all the data irreversibly is destroyed
========================================
The text differs for each version. To illustrate, Matafaka and Army show barely any information about data decryption. They mention your PC is hacked, but provide zero information or payment instructions to restore the data. The reason for that may be that these versions are still in development and testing. Not excluded that there are complete versions with full-fledged instructions already circulating around the web. Divinity is the only version out of the list having contact details to pay for the ransom. For this, users are asked to write a direct message to @lulzed Telegram or @dissimilate on Twitter. Note that the Xorist Ransomware family uses XOR and TEA algorithms to encrypt personal data. Data encrypted by such ciphers are less likely to be decryptable without the involvement of cybercriminals. Despite this, it is expressly advised against meeting the demands of fraudulent figures. There is a chance they will fool you and do not provide any promised tools even after transferring money. In this case, a better solution would be to use backup copies stored on external devices to recover your data. You can do this easily after deleting the virus that swooped on your system. Using third-party tools is less likely to help, but still worth trying unless you have backup copies available. Before we close out this part, it is worth mentioning that Xorist wields a number of other versions as well. You can find the full list of them here below:
.GiTeR
.ZyNoXiOn
.BlOCkED
.CrYo
.TeOnS
.ENCRYPTED
.hex911
.[dungeon]-0_0
.CroNi
.ZoNe
.{loly} _zip
How Xorist Ransomware infected your system
Xorist and many other ransomware developers can spread their software via malicious e-mail spam letters, unprotected RDP configuration, trojans, keyloggers, backdoors, fake updates, and other suspicious downloads from third-party resources. E-mail spam is an old-fashioned, yet one of the most effective methods of distributing malicious programs. Developers send a flow of identical letters marked as “legitimate”, “urgent”, or something similar. Logically enough, this should uplift the interest of potential victims to read such messages. Cybercriminals usually bring popular files like .PDF, .EXE, .RAR, .ZIP, .DOCX, or .JS that are configured to store various malware. Unfortunately, most users ignore the fact they can be malicious and open such files without caution. As a result, malware breaks through the gates and infects your PC immediately. To avoid this, it is strongly advised against clicking on files or links raising suspicion. If you see a message inside of a spam folder, then this is for nothing, but good reason. Keep in mind that all other channels we mentioned above infiltrate users the same way – by exploiting inexperience and personal negligence. In order to stay protected against threats like Xorist Ransomware in the future, make sure to follow our guidelines below. There is a lot of useful information to capitalize on.
- Download Xorist Ransomware Removal Tool
- Get decryption tool for .divinity, .matafaka or .army files
- Recover encrypted files with Stellar Data Recovery Professional
- Restore encrypted files with Windows Previous Versions
- Restore files with Shadow Explorer
- How to protect from threats like Xorist Ransomware
Download Removal Tool
To remove Xorist Ransomware completely, we recommend you to use Norton Antivirus from Symantec. It detects and removes all files, folders, and registry keys of Xorist Ransomware and prevents future infections by similar viruses.
Alternative Removal Tool
To remove Xorist Ransomware completely, we recommend you to use SpyHunter 5. It detects and removes all files, folders, and registry keys of Xorist Ransomware. The trial version of Spyhunter 5 offers virus scan and 1-time removal for FREE.
Xorist Ransomware files:
HOW TO DECRYPT FILES.txt
{randomfilename}.exe
Xorist Ransomware registry keys:
no information
How to decrypt and restore .divinity, .matafaka or .army files
Use automated decryptors
Download Kaspersky RakhniDecryptor
Use following tool from Kaspersky called Rakhni Decryptor, that can decrypt .divinity, .matafaka or .army files. Download it here:
There is no purpose to pay the ransom because there is no guarantee you will receive the key, but you will put your bank credentials at risk.
Dr.Web Rescue Pack
Famous antivirus vendor Dr. Web provides free decryption service for the owners of its products: Dr.Web Security Space or Dr.Web Enterprise Security Suite. Other users can ask for help in the decryption of .divinity, .matafaka or .army files by uploading samples to Dr. Web Ransomware Decryption Service. Analyzing of files will be performed free of charge and if files are decryptable, all you need to do is purchase a 2-year license of Dr.Web Security Space worth $120 or less. Otherwise, you don’t have to pay.
If you are infected with Xorist Ransomware and removed from your computer you can try to decrypt your files. Antivirus vendors and individuals create free decryptors for some crypto-lockers. To attempt to decrypt them manually you can do the following:
Use Stellar Data Recovery Professional to restore .divinity, .matafaka or .army files
- Download Stellar Data Recovery Professional.
- Click Recover Data button.
- Select type of files you want to restore and click Next button.
- Choose location where you would like to restore files from and click Scan button.
- Preview found files, choose ones you will restore and click Recover.
Using Windows Previous Versions option:
- Right-click on infected file and choose Properties.
- Select Previous Versions tab.
- Choose particular version of the file and click Copy.
- To restore the selected file and replace the existing one, click on the Restore button.
- In case there is no items in the list choose alternative method.
Using Shadow Explorer:
- Download Shadow Explorer program.
- Run it and you will see screen listing of all the drives and the dates that shadow copy was created.
- Select the drive and date that you want to restore from.
- Right-click on a folder name and select Export.
- In case there are no other dates in the list, choose alternative method.
If you are using Dropbox:
- Login to the DropBox website and go to the folder that contains encrypted files.
- Right-click on the encrypted file and select Previous Versions.
- Select the version of the file you wish to restore and click on the Restore button.
How to protect computer from viruses, like Xorist Ransomware, in future
1. Get special anti-ransomware software
Use ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware
Famous antivirus brand ZoneAlarm by Check Point released a comprehensive tool, that will help you with active anti-ransomware protection, as an additional shield to your current protection. The tool provides Zero-Day protection against ransomware and allows you to recover files. ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware is compatible with all other antiviruses, firewalls, and security software except ZoneAlarm Extreme (already shipped with ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware) or Check Point Endpoint products. The killer features of this application are: automatic file recovery, overwrite protection that instantly and automatically recovers any encrypted files, file protection that detects and blocks even unknown encryptors.
2. Back up your files
As an additional way to save your files, we recommend online backup. Local storage, such as hard drives, SSDs, flash drives, or remote network storage can be instantly infected by the virus once plugged in or connected to. Xorist Ransomware uses some techniques to exploit this. One of the best services and programs for easy automatic online backup is iDrive. It has the most profitable terms and a simple interface. You can read more about iDrive cloud backup and storage here.
3. Do not open spam e-mails and protect your mailbox
Malicious attachments to spam or phishing e-mails are the most popular method of ransomware distribution. Using spam filters and creating anti-spam rules is good practice. One of the world leaders in anti-spam protection is MailWasher Pro. It works with various desktop applications and provides a very high level of anti-spam protection.
