Remove Princess Locker V2 and Restore .cRtG, .fyust, .aknT0I Files

Malware researchers have recently discovered Princess Locker and what appears to be a second version. The methods of infection are still unknown, but the payload file is named ran.exe as submitted from various samples. Victims have a few days to pay the ransom, or the price will double, exactly like the previous version. The asked ransom price is 0.0600 Bitcoins. Read this article to the end to see how to remove the virus and try to decrypt your files.

Threat Summary

Name	Princess Locker V2
Type	Ransomware
Short Description	The ransomware will encrypt your files and display a ransom note. You are given a few days to pay, otherwise the ransom price will increase.
Symptoms	The ransomware will encrypt files, and put an extension to them. The extension consists of five random symbols, just like it was with the previous version of the ransomware.
Distribution Method	Spam Emails, File Sharing Networks, Exploit Kits
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by Princess Locker V2 Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join Our Forum to Discuss Princess Locker V2.

Princess Locker V2 Virus – Infection Spread

The Princess Locker ransomware virus is possibly spread with an Exploit Kit if it follows suit of the original variant. Other methods for distributing the infection probably exist. It might spread through spam emails with an attachment. If you open such an attachment put in a suspicious e-mail, your computer could get infected. Social media networks and file-share services could also contain files like those if the cybercriminals decided to place them there. So, you should be very careful with the interactions you make on the Internet, such as when you click, download or open unknown files.

Below you can see the payload file that distributes the ransomware on VirusTotal:

The file is named ran.exe and is also present in other threat detection databases. Most antivirus programs detect it already, probably because of the similarity between its code and that of the original variant.

Princess Locker V2 Virus – Technical Data

Princess Locker is a ransomware cryptovirus. The ransomware has the same design, encryption mechanism and similar file distribution tactics as the original variant of the Princess Locker Ransomware Virus.

When Princess Locker ransomware finishes encrypting files it will place an image and a text document containing the ransom note with decryption instructions inside. The text document file bares one of the following names:

• =_THIS_TO_FIX_cRtG.txt
• =_THIS_TO_FIX_fyust.txt
• = _THIS_TO_FIX_aknT0I.txt

Below you can see the contents of one of these ransom note files:

The note states the following:

hpeECbqS CqXdyb qhBGhoryp
Your ID: U2WbVAYRDcaMQxxx
Your extension: cRtG
() Your files are encrypted!
(kBFflrEv) Download and install Tor Browser:
http://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html
() Follow this link via Tor Browser:
http://royal25fphqilqft.onion/

If you click on the latter link, which are given on there you will land on the following page inside your browser:

You enter your ID and as you do that you will see a counter pop up showing that you have only a few days remaining to pay the initial price. That price is 0.0600 Bitcoins or around 545 US dollars. After that small time frame of a week expires, the demanded ransom will increase.

It is strongly NOT advised to pay any of the sums to the cybercriminals – if you pay them, there is absolutely no guarantee that you will decrypt your files. You will only end up financially supporting them with your money with their criminal endeavors.

Princess Locker V2 Virus – Encryption Process

Princess Locker V2 ransomware should search to encrypt files with extensions such as its previous variant. The extension list might be even more extensive than the one provided below, but the following extensions are surely to be encrypted:

→.1cd, .3ds, .3gp, .accdb, .ape, .asp, .aspx, .bc6, .bc7, .bmp, .cdr, .cer, .cfg, .cfgx, .cpp, .cr2, .crt, .crw, .csr, .csv, .dbf, .dbx, .dcr, .dfx, .dib, .djvu, .doc, .docm, .docx, .dwg, .dwt, .dxf, .dxg, .eps, .htm, .html, .ibank, .indd, .jfif, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .kdc, .kwm, .max, .mdb, .mdf, .odb, .odc, .odm, .odp, .ods, .odt, .orf, .p12, .p7b, .p7c, .pdf, .pef, .pem, .pfx, .php, .png, .pps, .ppt, .pptm, .pptx, .psd, .pst, .pub, .pwm, .qbb, .qbw, .raw, .rtf, .sln, .sql, .sqlite, .svg, .tif, .tiff, .txt, .vcf, .wallet, .wpd, .xls, .xlsm, .xlsx, .xml

If the Princess Locker ransomware is anything like its predecessor, files should be locked with the 128-bit AES encryption algorithm. Researchers have confirmed that files and their extension will not be changed. However, the extension that will be appended to files with five random characters will be placed as a secondary extension.

Below you can see a page on the TOR network, connected to the decryption instructions of the ransomware which allow you to decrypt a file up to 1 MB:

It is still unknown whether the Princess Locker ransomware virus can erase the Shadow Volume Copies of the Windows operating system, but there is a pretty high chance of that.

Remove Princess Locker V2 Virus and Restore Your Files

If your computer got compromised and is infected with the Princess Locker ransomware virus, you should have some experience with removing viruses before tampering with it. You should get rid of the ransomware fast before it can spread further on the network and encrypt more files. The recommended action for you is to remove the ransomware completely by following the step-by-step instructions written below.

Manually delete Princess Locker V2 from your computer

Note! Substantial notification about the Princess Locker V2 threat: Manual removal of Princess Locker V2 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 Princess Locker V2 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 Princess Locker V2 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 Princess Locker V2 on your PC

Find malicious files created by Princess Locker V2

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 Princess Locker V2 by downloading an advanced anti-malware program

1. Remove Princess Locker V2 with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data

Remove Princess Locker V2 with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove Princess Locker V2.2. Scan with SpyHunter to Detect and Remove Princess Locker V2. Back up your data to secure it against infections and file encryption by Princess Locker V2 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 Princess Locker V2 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 Princess Locker V2

Restore Files Encrypted by Princess Locker V2

Ransomware infections like Princess Locker V2 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.

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 Princess Locker V2 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 Princess Locker V2 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 Princess Locker V2 Using Other Alternative Tools

STOPZilla Anti Malware

1. Download and Install STOPZilla Anti-malware to Scan for And Remove Princess Locker V2.
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 Princess Locker V2 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.

Berta Bilbao

Berta is a dedicated malware researcher, dreaming for a more secure cyber space. Her fascination with IT security began a few years ago when a malware locked her out of her own computer.

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