The Booknish Jigsaw Virus is the newest strain of the Jigsaw ransomware family. It uses a complex infection algorithm that can cause devastating damage to the infected hosts. Advanced versions of it can induce a Trojan-like behavior that can spy on the users in real time, overtake control of the machines and load additional malware. Read our full removal guide in order to get rid of active infections.
Threat Summary
| Name | Booknish Jigsaw |
| Type | Ransomware, Cryptovirus |
| Short Description | The ransomware encrypts sensitive information on your computer system with the .booknish extensions and demands a ransom to be paid to allegedly recover them. |
| Symptoms | The ransomware will encrypt your files with a strong encryption algorithm. |
| Distribution Method | Spam Emails, Email Attachments |
| Detection Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Booknish Jigsaw Download Malware Removal Tool | User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss Booknish Jigsaw. |
| 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. |
Booknish Jigsaw Virus – Distribution Ways
This new strain associated with the Jigsaw virus family uses the traditional delivery tactics. Once again one of the most popular means is the use of email messages that utilize social engineering tactics that attempt to manipulate the targets into interacting with the malware elements. The hackers behind the threat can either directly attach the strains to the messages or hyperlink them in body contents. In addition the messages can be used to spread viral payloads, two popular examples are the following:
- Software Installers — The criminals can embed the dangerous Booknish Jigsaw virus into application installers of various types: system utilities, creativity solutions, production software, office applications and even computer games. The virus infections are deployed automatically once the installers execute correctly.
- Documents — The virus code can be embedded in documents of different types such as presentations, rich text files and spreadsheets. Usually the infections are done when the malware scripts are invoked. This is done if the victim users enable them.
The other deployment tactic is the use of browser hijackers which are dangerous browser extensions that seek to redirect the victim users to a hacker-controlled site. They are usually uploaded to the official plugin repositories which use fake user reviews, elaborate descriptions and counterfeit developer credentials. The browser plugins are made compatible with the most popular web browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer.
The Booknish Jigsaw virus can also infect legitimate sites as well by using various web scripts. The dangerous files spread by using affiliate and ad networks.
Booknish Jigsaw Virus – In-Depth Analysis
The initial security analysis reveals that the Booknish Jigsaw virus follows the behavior patterns associated with the previous versions that belong to this family of threats. Jigsaw strains are known for having a complex multi-stage infection.
The first part of the attacks are used to prepare the system for the actual ransomware module. This is done by launching a data harvesting engine that can accumulate a large database of data. The collected information can be divided into two main types:
- Sensitive Private Data — The corresponding malware engines can be configured into harvesting information that can reveal the identity of the victims. Example information includes the user’s name, address, telephone number, geographic location, interests, passwords and account credentials.
- Campaign Metrics Data — The hackers can instruct the Booknish Jigaw virus engine to extract data that can help optimize the attack campaigns. This includes all manners of operating system details and a detailed review of the installed hardware components.
In some cases the collected information can then be processed by a secondary module known as stealth protection. It is used to prevent certain applications from interrupting the correct virus execution. Examples include anti-virus software, virtual machine hosts or sandbox environments. Some viruses opt to deleete themselves in the event that this step is not successful in order to evade detection.
After this is done the actual malware components of the threat can be started. Administrative access to the operating system is acquired through and then system changes follows. This is usually done to the Windows Registry. The virus sample analysis indicates that the engine manipulates both the strings associated with the operating system and the user-installed applications. This can result in the inability to run certain functions and overall performance issues. Further issues can arise when the virus is instituted as a persistent threat. This means that it will automatically start once the computer is booted. In connection with this the Booknish Jigsaw virus can make it impossible for the users to enter into the recovery menu.
This particular threat also hooks to system services and key Windows components in order to infect the system as deeply as possible. We expect to see Trojan-like behavior by inducing a network connection to a hacker-controlled server. It can be used to gather the collected information hijaked by the Jigsaw malware engine in the beginning of the infection. Such infections are also used to spy on the victims and take over control of the affected machines.
Once all prerequsite conditions have complete the ransomware engine is started. Like previous versions it uses a strong AES cipher in order to affect target user data. The victim files are chosen based on a built-in list of file types. Example data that is compromised includes the following:
- Archives
- Documents
- Backups
- Databases
- Images
- Videos
- Music
As a result .booknish extension is applied to the victim files. One of the interesting features is that instead of a traditional ransom note an application frame that is created to look like a notification message. It contains the following text:
You have been weened
Your personal files are being deleted. Your photos, videos, documents, etc…
rektEvery hour I select some of them to delete permanently,
therefore I won’t be able to to access them, either.
During the first 24 hour you will only lose a few files,
the second day a few hundred, the third day a few thousand, and so on.
If you turn off your computer or try to close me, when I start next time
you will get 1000 files deleted as a punishment.
An initial ransomware sum is quoted, at the time of writing the captured strains of the Booknish Jigsaw request the sum of 100 US Dollars.
Remove Booknish Jigsaw Virus and Restore .Booknish Jigsaw Files
If your computer system got infected with the Booknish Jigsaw ransomware virus, you should have a bit of experience in removing malware. You should get rid of this ransomware as quickly as possible before it can have the chance to spread further and infect other computers. You should remove the ransomware and follow the step-by-step instructions guide provided below.
Martin Beltov
Martin graduated with a degree in Publishing from Sofia University. As a cyber security enthusiast he enjoys writing about the latest threats and mechanisms of intrusion.
Follow Me:
- Guide 1: How to Remove Booknish Jigsaw from Windows.
- Guide 2: Get rid of Booknish Jigsaw from Mac OS X.
How to Remove Booknish Jigsaw from Windows.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Booknish Jigsaw
Step 2: Uninstall Booknish Jigsaw and related software from Windows
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.Step 3: Clean any registries, created by Booknish Jigsaw on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- 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
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by Booknish Jigsaw there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click "Modify" to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.Before starting "Step 4", please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for Booknish Jigsaw with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Step 5 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Booknish Jigsaw.
Ransomware infections and Booknish Jigsaw aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
If the above link does not work for you and your region, try the other two links below, that lead to the same product:
Get rid of Booknish Jigsaw from Mac OS X.
Step 1: Uninstall Booknish Jigsaw and remove related files and objects
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
- Go to Finder.
- In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
- Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
- If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.
In case you cannot remove Booknish Jigsaw via Step 1 above:
In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:
You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:
→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.
Step 2: Scan for and remove Booknish Jigsaw files from your Mac
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as Booknish Jigsaw, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. Combo Cleaner offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.
Step 3 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Booknish Jigsaw on your Mac.
Ransomware for Mac Booknish Jigsaw aims to encode all your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decode, unless you pay money. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files, but only in some cases. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
