'.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware
The '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware Trojan was first observed on December 10, 2018. The '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware is part of a large family of ransomware Trojans that includes the Dharma 2017 and its variants. The '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware carries out a typical encryption ransomware attack, taking the victim's files hostage and demanding a ransom from the victim in exchange for restoring access to the corrupted files.
The Greek God of Thieves is the One Attacking Your Files this Time
The '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware attack involves the use of a strong encryption algorithm to make the victim's files inaccessible. The '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware will mark each file it encrypts by adding the file extension '.Mercury' to the files' names. The '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware will target the user-generated files, which may include numerous documents, media files, configuration files, and others, such as files with the following file extensions:
.jpg, .jpeg, .raw, .tif, .gif, .png, .bmp, .3dm, .max, .accdb, .db, .dbf, .mdb, .pdb, .sql, .dwg, .dxf, .cpp, .cs, .h, .php, .asp, .rb, .java, .jar, .class, .py, .js, .aaf, .aep, .aepx, .plb, .prel, .prproj, .aet, .ppj, .psd, .indd, .indl, .indt, .indb, .inx, .idml, .pmd, .xqx, .xqx, .ai, .eps, .ps, .svg, .swf, .fla, .as3, .as, .txt, .doc, .dot, .docx, .docm, .dotx, .dotm, .docb, .rtf, .wpd, .wps, .msg, .pdf, .xls, .xlt, .xlm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xltx, .xltm, .xlsb, .xla, .xlam, .xll, .xlw, .ppt, .pot, .pps, .pptx, .pptm, .potx, .potm, .ppam, .ppsx, .ppsm, .sldx, .sldm, .wav, .mp3, .aif, .iff, .m3u, .m4u, .mid, .mpa, .wma, .ra, .avi, .mov, .mp4, .3gp, .mpeg, .3g2, .asf, .asx, .flv, .mpg, .wmv, .vob, .m3u8, .dat, .csv, .efx, .sdf, .vcf, .xml, .ses, .qbw, .qbb, .qbm, .qbi, .qbr , .cnt, .des, .v30, .qbo, .ini, .lgb, .qwc, .qbp, .aif, .qba, .tlg, .qbx, .qby , .1pa, .qpd, .txt, .set, .iif, .nd, .rtp, .tlg, .wav, .qsm, .qss, .qst, .fx0, .fx1, .mx0, .fpx, .fxr, .fim, .ptb, .ai, .pfb, .cgn, .vsd, .cdr, .cmx, .cpt, .csl, .cur, .des, .dsf, .ds4, , .drw, .eps, .ps, .prn, .gif, .pcd, .pct, .pcx, .plt, .rif, .svg, .swf, .tga, .tiff, .psp, .ttf, .wpd, .wpg, .wi, .raw, .wmf, .txt, .cal, .cpx, .shw, .clk, .cdx, .cdt, .fpx, .fmv, .img, .gem, .xcf, .pic, .mac, .met, .pp4, .pp5, .ppf, .nap, .pat, .ps, .prn, .sct, .vsd, .wk3, .wk4, .xpm, .zip, .rar.
The '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware delivers a ransom note in the form of a text file named '!!!READ_IT!!!.txt.' The '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware ransom note contains the following message for the victim:
'!!! ATTENTION, YOUR FILES WERE ENCRYPTED !!!
Please follow few steps below:
1.Send us your ID.
2.We can decrypt 1 file what would you make sure that we have decription tool!
3.Then you'll get payment instruction and after payment you will get your decryption tool!
Do not try to rename files!!! Only we can decrypt all your data!
Contact us:
getmydata@india.com
mydataback@aol.com
Your ID:[redacted 64 uppercase hex]:[redacted 64 uppercase hex with dashes]
[redacted 64 uppercase hex with dashes]:[redacted 64 uppercase hex with dashes]'
Dealing with the '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware Infection
Malware specialists strongly advise computer users to avoid contacting the criminals responsible for the '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware attack via the email addresses provided. It is very unprobable that the criminals will respond positively, and contacting them only puts the computer users at risk for additional infections. The best protection against threats like '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware is to have backup copies of your data. The backup copies of your files should be stored on cloud providers or an external memory device. Apart from having file backups, computer users must have a security program to protect their machines from threats like '.Mercury File Extension' Ransomware and ensure that their computers are configured to prevent these attacks with effectual security measures, such as strong passwords and adequate protection for any network connection.
