Decrypt Files Encrypted by .FailedAccess Ransomware

Article created to help you completely remove the .FailedAccess file virus and decrypt files encrypted by it for free.

Yet another variant of “Stupid” ransomware family has appeared out in the wild, this time using the .FailedAccess file extension. The virus has a goal to encrypt the files on computers that have been compromised by it after which leave behind a ransom note file notifying victims to pay a hefty ransom fee in order to restore files encrypted by this ransomware infection. Fortunately, the FailedAccess ransomware is part of the family of Stupid ransomware which is decryptable. In case you have become a victim of this virus, we advise following the instructions on this article to remove the virus and restore .FailedAccess encrypted files from your computer.

Threat Summary

Name	FailedAccess
Type	Ransomware
Short Description	Encrypts important documents, music, video, images and other files and then demands a ransom to be paid to get the files back.
Symptoms	This ransomware uses the .FailedAccess file extension which is added to the encrypted files.
Distribution Method	Via an Exploit kit, Dll file attack, malicious JavaScript or a drive-by download of the malware itself in an obfuscated manner.
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by FailedAccess Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join our forum to Discuss FailedAccess.
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.

.FailedAccess Virus – Infection Process

The .FailedAccess threat may cause an infection by carefully utilizing multiple different types of techniques, such as:

Trojan.Dropper.
Trojan.Downloader.
Exploit kits.
JavaScript.
Malcious MicrosoftOffice macros.

These techniques may be used in multiple different types of situation, such as sending spam e-mails to users. Such spam e-mails may include the usage of legitimate e-mail addresses that are not flagged as spam, to spread messages to users with convincing statements to open the e-mail attachments. Two examples of such e-mails, oje using a malicious attachment and the other using a URL can be seen below:

In addition to being spread via e-mail, the FailedAccess ransomware virus may also cause infection via fake setups as well as other fake software uploaded on suspicious websites or torrent-providers.

.FailedAccess File Virus – Infection Activity

As soon as the victim of .FailedAccess ransomware clicks on the web link, the virus may connect to the C2 server or a distribution site. From there, the payload of the ransomware is downloaded and may reside within the following Windows folders:

• %AppData%
• %Roaming%
• %Local%
• %LocalLow%
• %SystemDrive%
• %Windows%
• %System32%

The ransomware infection may also tamper with the Windows Registry editor, modifying the following keys:

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

After having changed different settings, .FailedAccess ransomware may begin to encrypt user files.

FailedAccess Virus – Encryption Process

The encryption process of FailedAccess may target, documents, photos, music and many other file types:

“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

As soon as the virus detects the file extensions, which it is pre-configured to encode, the ransomware immediately begins to change blocks of their data. After the encryption is complete, the virus adds the .FailedAccess file extension, making the files appear like the image below:

Fortunately, files encrypted with this extension, can be decrypted as researcher demonslay335 has updated the decryptor for all Stupid Ransomware variants know so far.

Remove .FailedAccess Virus

Before you begin decrypting the .FailedAccess encoded files, it is advisable to first get rid of this threat. One very good method to do it, is to follow the removal instructions underneath. They are carefully designed to help you isolate and then remove all the malicious objects. However, since the .FailedAccess ransomware heavily interferes with Windows registry entries and files, it is strongly advisable to focus on removing this threat automatically. The best recommended tool to do this with is an advanced anti-malware program which will also ensure future protection in the meantime.

Manually delete FailedAccess from your computer

Note! Substantial notification about the FailedAccess threat: Manual removal of FailedAccess 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 FailedAccess 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 FailedAccess 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 FailedAccess on your PC

Find malicious files created by FailedAccess

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 FailedAccess by downloading an advanced anti-malware program

1. Remove FailedAccess with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data

Remove FailedAccess with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove FailedAccess.2. Scan with SpyHunter to Detect and Remove FailedAccess. Back up your data to secure it against infections and file encryption by FailedAccess 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 FailedAccess 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

Decrypt .FailedAccess Files for Free

Step 1: For the decryption process of FailedAccess ransomware to be successful, first you need to download StupidDecrypter by demonslay335 by clicking on the button below:

Step 2: After downloading it, extract it from the archive and then run the decryptor as an administrator:

After this, select directories with encrypted files and click on the “Decrypt” button which will turn bold black once directories are selected:

After this has completed, the program will ask you if you want to perform a copy process of the encrypted files and it is advisable to make such copies in a separate folder, just in case.

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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