What is Scarab Recovery ransomware? And how does it carry out its attack?

Scarab Recovery ransomware is a new file-encrypting threat that belongs to the infamous Scarab ransomware group. Just like the previous variants, this one still follows the same infection behavior tactics. It starts by employing an information gathering module once it infiltrates a computer. This module is used to scan the computer for signatures that belongs security programs as well as virtual machine hosts and sandbox/debug environments to make sure that none of them can interfere with the attack. It also modifies some Registry entries and sub-keys in the Windows Registry to allow it to run on every system boot. Following this modification, it looks for files with the following extensions to encrypt:
.PNG .PSD .PSPIMAGE .TGA .THM .TIF .TIFF .YUV .AI .EPS .PS .SVG .INDD .PCT .PDF .XLR .XLS .XLSX .ACCDB .DB .DBF .MDB .PDB .SQL .APK .APP .BAT .CGI .COM .EXE .GADGET .JAR .PIF .WSF .DEM .GAM .NES .ROM .SAV CAD Files .DWG .DXF GIS Files .GPX .KML .KMZ .ASP .ASPX .CER .CFM .CSR .CSS .HTM .HTML .JS .JSP .PHP .RSS .XHTML. DOC .DOCX .LOG .MSG .ODT .PAGES .RTF .TEX .TXT .WPD .WPS .CSV .DAT .GED .KEY .KEYCHAIN .PPS .PPT .PPTX ..INI .PRF Encoded Files .HQX .MIM .UUE .7Z .CBR .DEB .GZ .PKG .RAR .RPM .SITX .TAR.GZ .ZIP .ZIPX .BIN .CUE .DMG .ISO .MDF .TOAST .VCD SDF .TAR .TAX2014 .TAX2015 .VCF .XML Audio Files .AIF .IFF .M3U .M4A .MID .MP3 .MPA .WAV .WMA Video Files .3G2 .3GP .ASF .AVI .FLV .M4V .MOV .MP4 .MPG .RM .SRT .SWF .VOB .WMV 3D .3DM .3DS .MAX .OBJ R.BMP .DDS .GIF .JPG .CRX .PLUGIN .FNT .FON .OTF .TTF .CAB .CPL .CUR .DESKTHEMEPACK .DLL .DMP .DRV .ICNS .ICO .LNK .SYS .CFG
After finding its targeted files, it will immediately encrypt them using a sophisticated cipher and appends the .Recovery extension right after. Following data encryption, it releases a text file named “HOW TO RECOVER FILES.txt” which contains the following content:
“=======================================================================
All your files are encrypted!!!!!!
=======================================================================
Your documents, photos, databases and other important data were encrypted.
Data recovery requires a decryptor.
To receive the decryptor, you should send an email to the email address:
[email protected] or
[email protected]
In the letter, indicate your personal identifier (see at the end of the document).
Then you will receive further instructions
Attention!
* Do not attempt to uninstall the program or run antivirus software
* Attempts to self-decrypt files will result in the loss of your data
=======================================================================
———————————————————————————-
6A02000000000000***95EA03
———————————————————————————-”
How does Scarab Recovery ransomware proliferate?
Like other Scarab variants, Scarab Recovery ransomware proliferates using malicious spam email campaigns where crooks attach an infected file as an attachment. Usually, they disguise malware-laden emails to trick users into opening the email and downloading its attachment. Thus, you have to be extra cautious in downloading attachments
To obliterate Scarab Recovery ransomware from your computer, follow the removal instructions below.
Step 1: Tap the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys to open a menu and then expand the Shutdown options which is right next to the power button.
Step 2: After that, tap and hold the Shift key and then click on Restart.
Step 3: And in the Troubleshoot menu that opens, click on the Advanced options and then go to the Startup settings.
Step 4: Click on Restart and tap F4 to select Safe Mode or tap F5 to select Safe Mode with Networking.
Step 5: After your PC has successfully rebooted, tap Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.

Step 6: Go to the Processes tab and look for any suspicious-looking processes that could be related to Scarab Recovery ransomware and then end their processes.

Step 7: Exit the Task Manager and open Control Panel by pressing the Windows key + R, then type in appwiz.cpl and then click OK or press Enter.

Step 8: Look for suspicious programs that could be related to Scarab Recovery ransomware and then uninstall them.

Step 9: Close Control Panel and tap Win + E keys to open File Explorer.
Step 10: Navigate to the following locations and look for the malicious components created by Scarab Recovery ransomware like “HOW TO RECOVER FILES.txt” and make sure to delete them all.

• %APPDATA%
• %TEMP%
• %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\
• %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
• %USERPROFILE%\Desktop

Step 11: Close the File Explorer.
Before you proceed to the next steps below, make sure that you are tech savvy enough to the point where you know exactly how to use and navigate your computer’s Registry. Keep in mind that any changes you make will highly impact your computer. To save you the trouble and time, you can just use [product-name] this system tool is proven to be safe and excellent enough that hackers won’t be able to hack into it. But if you can manage Windows Registry well, then, by all means, go on to the next steps.
Step 12: Tap Win + R to open Run and then type in regedit in the field and tap enter to pull up Windows Registry.

Step 13: Navigate to the listed paths below and look for the registry keys and sub-keys created by Scarab Recovery ransomware.

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\
• HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop\
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Step 14: Delete the registry keys and sub-keys created by Scarab Recovery ransomware.
Step 15: Close the Registry Editor and empty the contents of the Recycle Bin.
Try to recover your encrypted files using the Shadow Volume copies
Restoring your encrypted files using Windows’ Previous Versions feature will only be effective if Scarab Recovery ransomware hasn’t deleted the shadow copies of your files. But still, this is one of the best and free methods there is, so it’s definitely worth a shot.
To restore the encrypted file, right-click on it and select Properties, a new window will pop-up, then proceed to Previous Versions. It will load the file’s previous version before it was modified. After it loads, select any of the previous versions displayed on the list like the one in the illustration below. And then click the Restore button.

To ensure the removal of Scarab Recovery ransomware from your system including the malicious components it has created on your system, follow the advanced steps below.
Perform a full system scan using [product-code]. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Turn on your computer. If it’s already on, you have to reboot
2. After that, the BIOS screen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you’re on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.

3. To navigate the Advanced Option use the arrow keys and select Safe Mode with Networking then hit
4. Windows will now load the SafeMode with Networking.
5. Press and hold both R key and Windows key.

6. If done correctly, the Windows Run Box will show up.
7. Type in the URL address, [product-url] in the Run dialog box and then tap Enter or click OK.
8. After that, it will download the program. Wait for the download to finish and then open the launcher to install the program.
9. Once the installation process is completed, run [product-code] to perform a full system scan.

10. After the scan is completed click the “Fix, Clean & Optimize Now”button.