'.bip File Extension' Ransomware
PC security researcher started noticing the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware, an encryption ransomware Trojan, in June 2018. The '.bip File Extension' Ransomware targets English-speakers and seems to be distributed through the use of spam email messages. The '.bip File Extension' Ransomware is a variant of the Dharma 2017 Ransomware family, and carries out a typical encryption ransomware attack. The '.bip File Extension' Ransomware is delivered to victims through corrupted macro scripts contained in spam email attachments, which use social engineering techniques to trick computer users into opening the harmful file. Once the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware has been installed on the victim's computer, the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware will carry out its attack, which consists of encrypting the victim's files using a strong encryption algorithm to take them hostage, and then demanding a ransom payment from the victim.
How the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware Attack Works
The '.bip File Extension' Ransomware uses the well-known AES encryption to make the files inaccessible. The encrypted files will have the file extension '.bip' added to the end of their names. Variants of the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware also will add an email string to the file's name. The '.bip File Extension' Ransomware will target the user-generated files in its attack, which may include a wide variety of media files, databases, documents, and numerous other file types. However, the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware will avoid the system files since these threats rely on the victim being able to still using the affected computer to carry out a ransom payment. The examples of the files that are targeted by attacks like the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware' include:
.3dm, .3g2, .3gp, .7zip, .aaf, .accdb, .aep, .aepx, .aet, .ai, .aif, .as, .as3, .asf, .asp, .asx, .avi, .bmp, .c, .class, .cpp, .cs, .csv, .dat, .db, .dbf, .doc, .docb, .docm, .docx, .dot, .dotm, .dotx, .dwg, .dxf, .efx, .eps, .fla, .flv, .gif, .h, .idml, .iff, .indb, .indd, .indl, .indt, .inx, .jar, .java, .jpeg, .jpg, .js, .m3u, .m3u8, .m4u, .max, .mdb, .mid, .mkv, .mov, .mp3, .mp4, .mpa, .mpeg, .mpg, .msg, .pdb, .pdf, .php, .plb, .pmd, .png, .pot, .potm, .potx, .ppam, .ppj, .pps, .ppsm, .ppsx, .ppt, .pptm, .pptx, .prel, .prproj, .ps, .psd, .py, .ra, .rar, .raw, .rb, .rtf, .sdf, .sdf, .ses, .sldm, .sldx, .sql, .svg, .swf, .tif, .txt, .vcf, .vob, .wav, .wma, .wmv, .wpd, .wps, .xla, .xlam, .xll, .xlm, .xls, .xlsb, .xlsm, .xlsx, .xlt, .xltm, .xltx, .xlw, .xml, .xqx, .xqx, .zip.
The '.bip File Extension' Ransomware delivers a ransom note in a text file named 'FILES ENCRYPTED.txt,' which is displayed on the infected computer's desktop. This ransom note asks the victim to contact the criminals via email to purchase a decryption key, which they need to have to recover their data. These threats may demand a ransom payment of several hundred dollars in Bitcoin.
Dealing with the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware
There's no valid reason to pay the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware ransom because it is very unlikely that the criminals will restore the affected files, and even if they do, the victim will be marked as a potential target for future attacks. Furthermore, the payment of these ransoms, allow criminals to continue creating and developing threats. The best blockage to stop the spread of attacks like the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware is to have file backups on an external device. File backups ensure that the files compromised by a threat like the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware can be restored easily from the backup copy. The '.bip File Extension' Ransomware threat itself can be removed relatively simple with the help of a security program that is always up-to-date. Since the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware most used spread method is via spam email attachments, learning to handle this content safely is also essential in halting the spread of the '.bip File Extension' Ransomware.
