Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Note! Your computer might be affected by Moth and other threats.
Threats such as Moth may be persistent on your system. They tend to re-appear if not fully deleted. A malware removal tool like SpyHunter will help you to remove malicious programs, saving you the time and the struggle of tracking down numerous malicious files. SpyHunter’s scanner is free but the paid version is needed to remove the malware threats. Read SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ransomware, named Moth, because it uses the file extension .m0th is the sole reason of users complaining in online forums. The ransomware uses an extremely strong AES-256 encryption algorithm to encipher the files of users, rendering them unusable and unable to be accessed via any software. More to it Moth ransomware leaves a ransom note which aims to scare users into paying the ransom. Security experts firmly believe that exactly the opposite of paying should be done – removing the virus and attempting to restore the files via any possible method besides this one. Unfortunately, direct decryption is not available at the moment, and this is why we advise you to read this article to delete Moth Ransomware and try to revert your files.
Threat Summary
Name
Moth
Type
Ransomware
Short Description
The ransomware encrypts files with the AES-256 cipher and asks a ransom for decryption.
Symptoms
Files are encrypted and become inaccessible. A ransom note with instructions for paying the ransom shows as a READMEPLEASE.TXT file.
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.
Moth Ransomware – How Does It Spread
To be widespread, Moth Ransomware’s creators may have used a combination of several tools to assure successfully undetected infection to as many users as possible for them:
Spam bots or spamming services.
Program joiners.
Crypters otherwise known as obfuscators.
Malicious macros.
Exploit Kits.
Malicious .JS (JavaScript).
Such tools may be used to replicate spam e-mails under the pretext they come from a legitimate sender, like a well-respected company or other organizations and institutions. The e-mails may either contain malicious web links or other malicious files that may infect your computer.
Another possibility of infection which is less likely but still an option for crooks is to take advantage of a shady advertising platforms and programs, like ad-supported browser hijacking software which displays browser redirects on the user PC. One of those redirects may carry the malicious drive-by download script for Moth Ransomware.
Moth Ransomware – In-Depth Analysis
As soon as Moth Ransomware has been initiated on the user’s PC, it may create malicious files in several key Windows folders:
%AppData%
%Temp%
%Local%
%LocalRow%
%User’s Profile%
After it has created the malicious files, Moth Ransomware may also begin to modify Windows settings. The Moth virus may create registry values to run whenever the user boots up Windows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run {value with the location of the malicious file in Windows}
To encrypt files, Moth Ransomware supports a scanning encryptor which may go through a wide variety of file extensions associated with videos, music, adio files, databases and other file types, for example:
After it detects the extensions it is preconfigured to encrypt Moth ransomware begins applying an AES-256 cipher on the files, generating a unique private key which is sent to the cyber-criminals’ C&C (Command and Control) center so that they can later ask BitCoins for them.
The encrypted files have the .m0th file extension, for example:
Furthermore, files encoded by Moth ransomware cannot be opened by any other software and fast and 100% direct decryption is only possible in case the user has obtained the private AES encryption key.
After encryption, Moth creates the READMEPLEASE.TXT file which contains the demands of the black hat hackers:
“Hello. All your files have been encrypted using our extremely strong private key. There is no way to recover them without our assistance. If you want to get your files back, you must be ready to pay for them. If you are broke and poor, sorry, we cannot help you. If you are ready to pay, then get in touch with us using a secure and anonymous p2p messenger. We have to use a messenger because standard emails get blocked quickly and if our email gets blocked your files will be lost forever. Go to http://bitmessage.org/, download and run Bitmessage. Click Your Identities tab > then click New > then click OK (this will generate your personal address, you need to do this just once). Then click Send tab. TO:{Cyber-criminals’ BitCoin address} Subject: name of your PC or your IP address or both. Message: Hi, I am ready to pay. Click Send button. You are done. To get the fastest reply from us with all further instructions, please keep your Bitmessage running on the computer at all times, if possible, or as often as you can because Bitmessage is a bit slow and it takes the time to send and get messages. If you cooperate and follow the instructions, you will get all your files back intact and very, very soon. Thank you.” Source: Affected User
As visible from the ransom note above, it is almost identical to another ransomware variant, known under the nickname BitMessage suggesting that Moth ransomware may be a variant of BitMessage virus. This particular threat is known to take advantage of the anonymous messaging service BitMessage to communicate with the victims of the virus undetected and in the same time faster and easier. Clever move from the cyber-criminals since they realize that “customer support” is important as well.
Moth Ransomware – Conclusion, How to Remove It and Restore the Files
To summarize and conclude, Moth Ransomware appears to be a variant of BitMessage ransomware – It uses the same AES-256 cipher, leaves the same ransom note and maybe has, even more, similarities. This is a strong indicator that this virus may have been sold on the black markets as a service (RaaS Scheme) or the same gang behind it created another virus with improvements, although it is way less likely because there is no working decryptor for BitMessage as well.
To remove Moth ransomware, we advise you to carefully follow the removal steps at the bottom of this page. In case you are having difficulties or are not sure that the manual removal instructions will help you, we advise following the automatic removal solution and download an advanced anti-malware program. It will swiftly find all files associated with Moth ransomware, remove them and protect your computer in the future as well.
To try and gain back access to your files, we advise you to be very careful, since this virus may have a CBC mode, which essentially “breaks” the files you are trying to decrypt with another decrypter directly. This is why we advise avoiding direct decryption and trying some of the alternative methods in step “3.Restore files encrypted by Moth” below. They may not be fully effective, but they may also help you recover little portion of the data you lost.
Note! Your computer system may be affected by Moth and other threats. Scan Your PC with SpyHunter SpyHunter is a powerful malware removal tool designed to help users with in-depth system security analysis, detection and removal of threats such as Moth. Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
To remove Moth follow these steps:
1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Moth files and objects
OFFER
Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!
We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter
Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria
Boot Your PC Into Safe Mode
1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7. 2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.
For Windows XP, Vista and 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 up the Start Menu.
Step 2: Click on the Power button (for Windows 8 it is the little arrow next to the “Shut Down” button) and whilst holding down “Shift” click on Restart.
Step 3: After reboot, a blue menu with options will appear. From them you should choose Troubleshoot.
Step 4: You will see the Troubleshoot menu. From this menu choose Advanced Options.
Step 5: After the Advanced Options menu appears, click on Startup Settings.
Step 6: From the Startup Settings menu, click on Restart.
Step 7: A menu will appear upon reboot. You can choose any of the three Safe Mode options by pressing its corresponding number and the machine will restart.
Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries on your computer to change different settings. This is why cleaning your Windows Registry Database is recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit long and tampering with registries could damage your computer if not done properly you should refer and follow our instructive article about fixing registry entries, especially if you are unexperienced in that area.
2. Find files created by Moth on your PC
Find files created by Moth
1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. 2. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
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.
Use SpyHunter to scan for malware and unwanted programs
3. Scan for malware and unwanted programs with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Scan your PC and Remove Moth with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for Moth and remove them.2. Scan with SpyHunter, Detect and Remove Moth. Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.
Step 1: Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.
It is 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. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.
Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.
Step 1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.
Step 2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.
Step 3: If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.
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 with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats. We recommend you to read more about it and to download SOS Online Backup.
4. Try to Restore files encrypted by Moth
Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Moth
Ransomware infections and Moth aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to 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 these methods may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
Method 1: Scanning your drive’s sectors by using Data Recovery software. Another method for 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:
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:
To restore your data in case you have backup set up, it is important to check for Volume Shadow Copies, if ransomware has not deleted them, in Windows using the below software:
Method 4: Finding the decryption key while the cryptovirus sends it over a network via a sniffing tool.
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:
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ransomware, named Moth, because it uses the file extension .m0th is the sole reason of users complaining in online forums. The ransomware uses an extremely strong AES-256 encryption algorithm to encipher the files of users, rendering them unusable and unable to be accessed via any software. More to it Moth ransomware leaves a ransom note which aims to scare users into paying the ransom. Security experts firmly believe that exactly the opposite of paying should be done – removing the virus and attempting to restore the files via any possible method besides this one. Unfortunately, direct decryption is not available at the moment, and this is why we advise you to read this article to delete Moth Ransomware and try to revert your files.
1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7.
2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.
Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for Moth and remove them.
Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.
