This article aims to show you how to remove the .911 files virus (GlobeImposter 2.0 variant) and to explain how to recover .911 encrypted files without paying ransom.

Yet another variant of the GlobeImposter virus has come out in the wild, encrypting files on the computers infected by it after which adding the .911 file extension to them and asking from victims to pay a hefty ransom fee in order to get the files to be openable again. The .911 file virus follows the tendency of 3 digit file extension, used in the previous two GlobeImposter ransomware variants – the .725 and ..726 file viruses.

Threat Summary

Name	.911 File Virus
Type	Ransomware, Cryptovirus
Short Description	Encrypts files on the computers infected by it and then demands a ransom to be paid in BitCoins to get them to work again.
Symptoms	Adds the .911 suffix to the encrypted files and drops the !SOS!.html ransom note with full instructions how to pay the ransom.
Distribution Method	Spam Emails, Email Attachments, Executable files
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by .911 File Virus Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join Our Forum to Discuss .911 File Virus.
Data Recovery Tool	Windows Data Recovery by Stellar Phoenix Notice! This product scans your drive sectors to recover lost files and it may not recover 100% of the encrypted files, but only few of them, depending on the situation and whether or not you have reformatted your drive.

How Does .911 Ransomware Infect Victims

For the .911 file virus to infect a given computer successfully, the crooks behind it may engage in various different tactics. The primary of those is to use social engineering skills in order to trick potential victims into opening spam e-mail messages. These messages may have either a malicious web link or an e-mail attachment which only pretends to be important. The pretext they use to convince users to click on the malicious objects is that they are usually important invoices, bank account statements or other such documents. They may also pose as large companies or banks, like the following:

• PayPal.
• Amazon.
• FedEx.
• DHL.
• UPS.

Usually the cyber-crooks archive the e-mail attachments in .zip files so that they evade protection scanners from the e-mail providers. In order to check if an archive is malicious or not for free, you can use ZipeZip(https://zipezip.com/).

In some cases, the files which are used in order to cause an infection may not be executable files or scripts. They may also be malicious Microsoft Word (.docx) documents or .PDF files that may have malicious macros embedded. The documents do not infect your computer when you open them and appear normal. However, some of them claim they are locked and in order to see the content, you must click on “Enable Content” to enable macros. Those macros are in fact malicious and they are the ones that cause the infection itself in the following way:

.911 File Ransomware – Malicious Activity

Being a GlobeImposter variant, this virus is little different than the other viruses, at least at first glance. However, there are several key improvements and areas by which it can be recognized. One of those is it’s distinctive ransom note, which the virus drops after an infection takes place. It is named !SOS!.html and aims to get victims to pay a hefty ransom to restore the files.

Besides the main ransom note, the virus also drops it’s malicious files on the compromised computer. They may be located in the usually targeted Windows folders:

• %AppData%
• %Roaming%
• %Local%
• %LocalLow%
• %Temp%

After the files are dropped, the .911 file virus may delete the shadow volume copies on the computers infected by it. The virus performs this by executing a batch (.bat) script that inserts the following command as an administrator in Windows Command Prompt:

→ vssadmin delete shadows /for={DrivePartition} /oldest | /all | /shadow={Identification of the shadow copies}] /quiet

In addition to modifying the volume shadow copies of the infected machine, the virus may also add custom registry entries that automatically run the malicious files on Windows boot:

→ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

The Encryption of .911 Files Ransomware

When .911 GlobeImposter variant encrypts your files, your computer may slow down or even briefly freeze and during the encryption you will not be able to stop it as you won’t notice it, because it is a fast process.

What the virus does is it firstly targets the most often used documents, videos, pictures, archives and other files on your computer which may have the following file extensions:

→ “PNG .PSD .PSPIMAGE .TGA .THM .TIF .TIFF .YUV .AI .EPS .PS .SVG .INDD .PCT .PDF .XLR .XLS .XLSX .ACCDB .DB .DBF .MDB .PDB .SQL .APK .APP .BAT .CGI .COM .EXE .GADGET .JAR .PIF .WSF .DEM .GAM .NES .ROM .SAV CAD Files .DWG .DXF GIS Files .GPX .KML .KMZ .ASP .ASPX .CER .CFM .CSR .CSS .HTM .HTML .JS .JSP .PHP .RSS .XHTML. DOC .DOCX .LOG .MSG .ODT .PAGES .RTF .TEX .TXT .WPD .WPS .CSV .DAT .GED .KEY .KEYCHAIN .PPS .PPT .PPTX ..INI .PRF Encoded Files .HQX .MIM .UUE .7Z .CBR .DEB .GZ .PKG .RAR .RPM .SITX .TAR.GZ .ZIP .ZIPX .BIN .CUE .DMG .ISO .MDF .TOAST .VCD SDF .TAR .TAX2014 .TAX2015 .VCF .XML Audio Files .AIF .IFF .M3U .M4A .MID .MP3 .MPA .WAV .WMA Video Files .3G2 .3GP .ASF .AVI .FLV .M4V .MOV .MP4 .MPG .RM .SRT .SWF .VOB .WMV 3D .3DM .3DS .MAX .OBJ R.BMP .DDS .GIF .JPG ..CRX .PLUGIN .FNT .FON .OTF .TTF .CAB .CPL .CUR .DESKTHEMEPACK .DLL .DMP .DRV .ICNS .ICO .LNK .SYS .CFG” Source:fileinfo.com

After the encryption process is complete, the virus adds the .911 file extension to the files and their final appearance is changed to the following:

Even though you may feel convinced into paying the ransom, it is strongly inadvisable. Instead, recommendations are to focus on removing this ransomware and try to recover your files using different methods.

Remove .911 Ransomware and Restore Files

Before beginning the removal of .911 files virus it is strongly recommended to backup your files beforehand. Then, you can proceed with the removal of this virus, preferably by following the instructions we have posted below. They are divided in manual and automatic to best help you with the removal process. For maximum effectiveness, malware researchers strongly recommend using a ransomware-specific removal software to help you scan for and remove all the objects associated with the .911 variant of GlobeImposter from your PC and protect it in the future.

After having removed this ransomware, you can attempt and restore your files, by following the alternative methods for file recovery below in step “2. Restore files encrypted by .911 Files Virus”. They are not 100% effective but may help you recover most of your encrypted files without having to pay the ransom.

Manually delete .911 File Virus from your computer

Note! Substantial notification about the .911 File Virus threat: Manual removal of .911 File Virus requires interference with system files and registries. Thus, it can cause damage to your PC. Even if your computer skills are not at a professional level, don’t worry. You can do the removal yourself just in 5 minutes, using a malware removal tool.

1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove .911 File Virus files and objects

Boot Your PC Into Safe Mode

1. For Windows 7,XP and Vista. 2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Fix registry entries created by .911 File Virus on your PC.

For Windows XP, Vista, 7 systems:

1. Remove all CDs and DVDs, and then Restart your PC from the “Start” menu.
2. Select one of the two options provided below:

– For PCs with a single operating system: Press “F8” repeatedly after the first boot screen shows up during the restart of your computer. In case the Windows logo appears on the screen, you have to repeat the same task again.

– For PCs with multiple operating systems: Тhe arrow keys will help you select the operating system you prefer to start in Safe Mode. Press “F8” just as described for a single operating system.

3. As the “Advanced Boot Options” screen appears, select the Safe Mode option you want using the arrow keys. As you make your selection, press “Enter“.

4. Log on to your computer using your administrator account

While your computer is in Safe Mode, the words “Safe Mode” will appear in all four corners of your screen.

Step 1: Open the Start Menu

Step 2: Whilst holding down Shift button, click on Power and then click on Restart.
Step 3: After reboot, the aftermentioned menu will appear. From there you should choose Troubleshoot.

Step 4: You will see the Troubleshoot menu. From this menu you can choose Advanced Options.

Step 5: After the Advanced Options menu appears, click on Startup Settings.

Step 6: Click on Restart.

Step 7: A menu will appear upon reboot. You should choose Safe Mode by pressing its corresponding number and the machine will restart.

Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries of your computer to change different settings. This is why manual clean up of your Windows Registry Database is strongly recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit lenghty, we recommend following our instructive article about fixing registry entries.

2.Find malicious files created by .911 File Virus on your PC

Find malicious files created by .911 File Virus

1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. 2. For Windows 7,XP and Vista.

For Newer Windows Operating Systems

Step 1:

On your keyboard press  + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.

Step 2:

Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.

Step 3:

Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:

N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.

For Older Windows Operating Systems

In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:

Step 1:

Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.

Step 2:

After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.

Step 3:

After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.

Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.

Automatically remove .911 File Virus by downloading an advanced anti-malware program

1. Remove .911 File Virus with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data

Remove .911 File Virus with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove .911 File Virus.2. Scan with SpyHunter to Detect and Remove .911 File Virus. Back up your data to secure it against infections and file encryption by .911 File Virus in the future.

Step 1:Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.

Download

Malware Removal Tool

It is highly recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter.

Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.
Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to automatically update.

Step1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Scan Computer Now’ button.

Step2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any .911 File Virus files, click on the ‘Fix Threats’ button to remove them automatically and permanently.

Step3: Once the intrusions on your PC have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart it.

Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future

IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data automatically with cloud backup and insure it against any type of data loss on your device, even the most severe. We recommend reading more about and downloading SOS Online Backup .

SOS Online Backup

2. Restore files encrypted by .911 File Virus

Restore Files Encrypted by .911 File Virus

Ransomware infections like .911 File Virus aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to directly decrypt. This is why we have suggested several alternative methods that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that they may not be 100% effective but they may help you little or a lot in some situations.

MAIN METHOD: Trying out the Emsisoft GlobeImposter Decrypter

Method 1: Scanning your drive’s sectors by using Data Recovery software.
Another method of restoring your files is by trying to bring back your files via data recovery software. Here are some suggestions for preferred data recovery software solutions:

• Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery Technicians License(Pro version with more features)
• Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery
• Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery

Method 2: Trying Kaspersky and EmsiSoft’s decryptors.
If the first method does not work, we suggest trying to use decryptors for other ransomware viruses, in case your virus is a variant of them. The two primary developers of decryptors are Kaspersky and EmsiSoft, links to which we have provided below:

• Kaspersky Decryptors
• Emsisoft Decryptors

Urgent! It is strongly advisable to first remove the .911 File Virus threat before attempting any decryption, since it may interfere with system files and registries. You can do the removal yourself just in 5 minutes, using an advanced malware removal tool.

Method 3: Using Shadow Explorer

To restore your data in case you have backup set up, it is important to check for shadow copies in Windows using this software if ransomware has not deleted them:

• Shadow Explorer

Method 4: Finding .911 File Virus decryption key while it communicates it via a network sniffing software.

Another way to decrypt the files is by using a Network Sniffer to get the encryption key, while files are encrypted on your system. A Network Sniffer is a program and/or device monitoring data traveling over a network, such as its internet traffic and internet packets. If you have a sniffer set before the attack happened you might get information about the decryption key. See how-to instructions below:

Instructions on How to Find Decryption Key for Files Encrypted By Ransowmare

Optional: Using Alternative Anti-Malware Tools

Remove .911 File Virus Using Other Alternative Tools

STOPZilla Anti Malware

1. Download and Install STOPZilla Anti-malware to Scan for And Remove .911 File Virus.
Step 1: Download STOPZilla by clicking here.
Step 2: A pop-up window will appear. Click on the ‘Save File’ button. If it does not, click on the Download button and save it afterwards.

Step 3: After you have downloaded the setup, simply open it.
Step 4: The installer should appear. Click on the ‘Next’ button.

Step 5: Check the ‘I accept the agreement’ check circle if not checked if you accept it and click the ‘Next’ button once again.

Step 6: Review and click on the ‘Install’ button.

Step 7: After the installation process has completed click on the ‘Finish’ button.

2. Scan your PC with STOPZilla Anti Malware to remove all .911 File Virus associated files completely.
Step 1: Launch STOPZilla if you haven’t launched it after install.
Step 2: Wait for the software to automatically scan and then click on the ‘Repair Now’ button. If it does not scan automatically, click on the ‘Scan Now’ button.

Step 3: After the removal of all threats and associated objects, you should Restart your PC.

Vencislav Krustev

A network administrator and malware researcher at SensorsTechForum with passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cyber security. Strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

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