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 .ONI Ransomware and other threats.
Threats such as .ONI Ransomware 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.
This article has been created in order to explain what is the .ONI files virus and how to remove it from your computer effectively.
A new ransomware virus, going by the name of ONI ransomware has been detected by security researchers. The ransomware virus is similar to a virus that we have detected late October, 2017, called ONI Locker and originated from what appears to be Russia. Unlike the previous version, that encrypted the whole drive of the computers infected by it, this version of ONI ransomware encrypts only the files, leaving behind the .ONI file suffix after their original one. If your computer has been infected by this variant of ONI ransomware, we strongly suggest that you read this article as it aims to help you remove this virus and shows you several methods which you can use to try and restore your encrypted files.
Threat Summary
Name
.ONI Ransomware
Type
Ransomware, Cryptovirus
Short Description
Encrypts the files on your computer and then asks victims to pay ransom to get them back.
Symptoms
The files have the .ONI file extension added and are completely renamed to random 0-9 A-Z names. A ransom note, called RESTORE_ONI_FILES.txt starts to appear.
Distribution Method
Spam Emails, Email Attachments, Executable files
Detection Tool
See If Your System Has Been Affected by .ONI Ransomware
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.
.ONI Files Virus – How Does It Infect
The primary method via which the .ONI file ransomware infects computers is via malicious e-mail attachments. These attachments may be encountered malicious spam e-mails that include them as archives. They often pretend to be seemingly legitimate forms of documents, for example:
Invoices.
Receipts.
Banking documents.
Warranty of a product.
The e-mails sent are also very cleverly composed and may include multiple different types of messages, stating the importance of those files, for example:
Besides via e-mail, the .ONI virus may land on your computer via other methods as well. One of those methods is believed to be by uploading the virus files and making it seem as if they are legitimate type of files, such as:
Setups of programs.
License activators.
Portable programs.
Cracks.
Patches.
Keygens.
.ONI Files Virus – Activity Report
Once .ONI ransomware has infected your computer, the virus may commence it’s infection activity. The first chain of actions it performs is to drop it’s malicious payload on your computer. It may consist of more than one files being spawned and these processes may have the following locations:
%AppData%
%Local%
%LocalLow%
%Roaming%
In addition to this, the ransomware virus also drops it’s ransom note file, called RESTORE_ONI_FILES.txt. The ransom note has the following contents:
Oops! Your files have been encrypted.
Your files are no longer accessible. You might have been looking for any way to recover your files. Don’t waste your time, you can’t recovery PC without our decryption service.
Our email: [email protected] Your ID (send it to my mail): {ID HERE} Attention! -Only [email protected] can decrypt your files -Trist no one [email protected] -Do not attempt to uninstall the program or run anti-virus tools Attempts to self-encrypt files will result in loss of your data. -Decoders of other users are not compatible with your data because each user has a unique encryption key.
Furthermore, ONI ransomware also heavily modifies registries in Windows Registry Editor. For starters, the .ONI ransomware virus interacts with the following Windows files via the registry editor of Windows:
ONI ransomware then may perform other activities on the infected machine, such as delete the shadow volume copies in it. To do this, ONI ransomware may run the following Windows Shell commands:
Once this is done, .ONI files virus may immediately start encrypting your files.
.ONI Files Virus – Encryption Process
In order to encrypt the files on your computer, the .ONI files virus may initially scan for the types of files it wants to encrypt. The files this virus may look for are often used types of files, such as:
Documents.
Images.
Videos.
Archives.
Virtual Drives.
Once, the .ONI ransomware virus is able to encrypt the files on your PC, the malware may add the .ONI file extension to the files. After this, the files may start to appear like the following:
Remove ONI Ransomware and Restore .ONI Encrypted Files
If you want to remove .ONI ransomware from your PC, it is recommended that you be very careful. For removal, you can use the manual and automatic removal instructions below. If manual removal does not seem to help or you feel lack of confidence that you will be able to delete this virus in full, we strongly suggest that you remove this virus automatically. For maximum effectiveness, security experts strongly advise using an advanced anti-malware software for the removal process. Such software’s primary goal is to fully scan for and delete all files, related to .ONI ransomware from your computer and in the same time ensure that it stays protected against infections that might occur in the future too.
If you want to restore .ONI encrypted files, you can try and use the file recovery instructions in step “2. Restore files, encrypted by .ONI Ransomware”. They have been created with the main purpose to help you recover as many files as possible, but they are no guarantee that you will be able to restore all the files.
Note! Your computer system may be affected by .ONI Ransomware 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 .ONI Ransomware. 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 .ONI Ransomware follow these steps:
1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove .ONI Ransomware 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 .ONI Ransomware on your PC
Find files created by .ONI Ransomware
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.
IMPORTANT! Before starting the Automatic Removal below, 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.
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 .ONI Ransomware with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for .ONI Ransomware and remove them.2. Scan with SpyHunter, Detect and Remove .ONI Ransomware. 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 .ONI Ransomware
Try to Restore Files Encrypted by .ONI Ransomware
Ransomware infections and .ONI Ransomware 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.
This article has been created in order to explain what is the .ONI files virus and how to remove it from your computer effectively.
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 .ONI Ransomware and remove them.
Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.
