Remove Dharma ransomware virus (Restore .dharma and .wallet files)

If your personal files, such as documents, photos, music does not open normally, their names changed or .[bitcoin143@india.com].dharma, .[fire.show@aol.com].wallet, .[stopper@india.com].wallet, [mkgoro@india.com].xtbl, .[Mkliukang@india.com].wallet or .[lavandos@dr.com].wallet added at the end of their name then your computer is infected with a new virus from a family of the Crysis file-encrypting ransomware. Once started, it have encrypted your personal files stored on a computer drives and attached network drives.

It uses very strong asymmetric encryption with a large key. When the ransomware encrypts a file, it will add the .dharma or .wallet extension to each encrypted file. Once the virus finished enciphering of all files, it will create a text file named “README.txt” or “Document.txt” with an instructions on how to decrypt all encrypted files.

The Dharma offers to make a payment in Bitcoins to get a key to decrypt files. Important to know, currently not possible to decrypt files encrypted by the Crysis ransomware without the private key and decrypt program.

If you choose to pay the ransom, there is no 100% guarantee that you can get back your files! If you do not want to pay for a decryption key, then you have a chance to restore your files. Use the step-by-step guide below to remove the virus itself and try to restore your files.

What is Dharma ransomware?
Is my system infected with Dharma ransomware?
How does my computer get infected with Dharma virus ?
How to decrypt .dharma and .wallet files ?
How to remove Dharma virus?
How to restore encrypted files ?
How to prevent my computer from becoming infected by Dharma ransomware?

What is Dharma ransomware?

The Dharma is a new variant of the Crysis high-risk ransomware infection. It affects all current versions of Windows operating systems such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10. This virus uses the asymmetric cryptography to eliminate the possibility of brute force a key, which will allow to decrypt all encrypted files.

When the virus infects a computer, it uses system directories to store own files. To run automatically whenever you turn on your computer, Dharma ransomware creates a registry entry in Windows: sections HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Run, HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ RunOnce, HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Run, HKCU \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ RunOnce.

Immediately after the launch, the virus scans all available drives, including network and cloud storage, to determine which files will be encrypted. The ransomware uses the file name extension, as a way to define a group of files that will be subjected to encrypting. Encrypted almost all types of files, including common as:

0, .1, .1st, .2bp, .3dm, .3ds, .sql, .mp4, .7z, .rar, .m4a, .wma, .avi, .wmv, .csv, .d3dbsp, .zip, .sie, .sum, .ibank, .t13, .t12, .qdf, .gdb, .tax, .pkpass, .bc6, .bc7, .bkp, .qic, .bkf, .sidn, .sidd, .mddata, .itl, .itdb, .icxs, .hvpl, .hplg, .hkdb, .mdbackup, .syncdb, .gho, .cas, .svg, .map, .wmo, .itm, .sb, .fos, .mov, .vdf, .ztmp, .sis, .sid, .ncf, .menu, .layout, .dmp, .blob, .esm, .vcf, .vtf, .dazip, .fpk, .mlx, .kf, .iwd, .vpk, .tor, .psk, .rim, .w3x, .fsh, .ntl, .arch00, .lvl, .snx, .cfr, .ff, .vpp_pc, .lrf, .m2, .mcmeta, .vfs0, .mpqge, .kdb, .db0, .dba, .rofl, .hkx, .bar, .upk, .das, .iwi, .litemod, .asset, .forge, .ltx, .bsa, .apk, .re4, .sav, .lbf, .slm, .bik, .epk, .rgss3a, .pak, .big, wallet, .wotreplay, .xxx, .desc, .py, .m3u, .flv, .js, .css, .rb, .png, .jpeg, .txt, .p7c, .p7b, .p12, .pfx, .pem, .crt, .cer, .der, .x3f, .srw, .pef, .ptx, .r3d, .rw2, .rwl, .raw, .raf, .orf, .nrw, .mrwref, .mef, .erf, .kdc, .dcr, .cr2, .crw, .bay, .sr2, .srf, .arw, .3fr, .dng, .jpe, .jpg, .cdr, .indd, .ai, .eps, .pdf, .pdd, .psd, .dbf, .mdf, .wb2, .rtf, .wpd, .dxg, .xf, .dwg, .pst, .accdb, .mdb, .pptm, .pptx, .ppt, .xlk, .xlsb, .xlsm, .xlsx, .xls, .wps, .docm, .docx, .doc, .odb, .odc, .odm, .odp, .ods, .odt, .wav, .wbc, .wbd, .wbk, .wbm, .wbmp, .wbz, .wcf, .wdb, .wdp, .webdoc, .webp, .wgz, .wire, .wm, .wma, .wmd, .wmf, .wmv, .wn, .wot, .wp, .wp4, .wp5, .wp6, .wp7, .wpa, .wpb, .wpd, .wpe, .wpg, .wpl, .wps, .wpt, .wpw, .wri, .ws, .wsc, .wsd, .wsh, .x, .x3d, .x3f, .xar, .xbdoc, .xbplate, .xdb, .xdl, .xld, .xlgc, .xll, .xls, .xlsm, .xlsx, .xmind, .xml, .xmmap, .xpm, .xwp, .xx, .xy3, .xyp, .xyw, .y, .yal, .ybk, .yml, .ysp, .z, .z3d, .zabw, .zdb, .zdc, .zi, .zif, .zip, .zw

Once a file is encrypted, its extension changed to .dharma or .wallet. Next, the virus creates files named “README.txt” or “Document.txt”. This file contain instructions on how to decrypt all encrypted files. An example of these instructions:

ATTENTION!
At the moment, your system is not protected.
We can fix it and restore files.
To restore the system write to this address:
bitcoin143@india.com

The Dharma ransomware-type virus actively uses scare tactics by giving the victim a brief description of the encryption algorithm and showing a threatening message on the desktop. It is trying to force the user of the infected computer, do not hesitate to pay a ransom, in an attempt to recover their files.

Is my system infected with Dharma ransomware?

Identify that your computer is infected with Dharma ransomware quite easily. If your personal files, such as documents, photos, music does not open normally, that is, for example, when you try to open a document, Word reports that it is an unknown file type, then it is likely that the document is encrypted, and your computer is infected. Of course, the presence on the desktop a ransom screen or threatening message is a sign of infection.

If you suspect that you have opened a email that infected with Dharma ransomware, but you does not see any symptoms of the infection, then follow the steps in this guide, see How to remove the Dharma virus as soon as possible. Another option, shut down the computer, remove the hard drive and check it on another PC.

How does my computer get infected with Dharma virus

The Dharma virus is distributed through the use of spam emails. Below is an email that is infected with a virus like Dharma ransomware.

Once this attachment has been opened, this virus will be started automatically as you do not even notice that. Dharma ransomware will start the encryption process. When this process is done, it will create the text files with usual ransomnote like shown above.

How to decrypt .dharma and .wallet files

Currently there is no available method to decrypt .dharma and .wallet files. The ransomware repeatedly tells the victim that uses a strong encryption algorithm with long key. What does it mean to decrypt the files is impossible without the private key. Use a “brute forcing” method is also not a way because of the big length of the key. Therefore, unfortunately, the only payment to the authors of the Dharma ransomware entire amount requested – the only way to try to get the decryption key.

There is absolutely no guarantee that after pay a ransom to the authors of the Dharma ransomware, they will provide the necessary key to decrypt your files. In addition, you must understand that paying money to the cyber criminals, you are encouraging them to create a new virus.

How to remove Dharma virus

The following instructions will help you to remove Dharma malicious software. Before doing it, you need to know that starting to remove the virus, you may block the ability to decrypt files by paying authors of the virus requested ransom.

The Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool and Malwarebytes Anti-malware can detect different types of active ransomware and easily remove it from your PC, but they can not recover encrypted files.

Remove Dharma virus with MalwareBytes Anti-malware

Get rid of Dharma manually is difficult and often the randomware virus is not completely removed. Therefore, we recommend you to use the Malwarebytes Free which are completely clean your personal computer. Moreover, the free program will help you to remove malware, ‘ad-supported’ software (also known as adware) and toolbars that your machine may be infected too.

Download Malwarebytes by clicking on the link below.

Once downloaded, close all software and windows on your machine. Open a directory in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named mbam-setup as shown on the image below.

When the installation begins, you will see the “Setup wizard” that will help you install Malwarebytes on your computer.

Once setup is done, you will see window as shown on the image below.

Now click the “Scan Now” button to start scanning your machine for the Dharma randomware-type virus. This task can take some time, so please be patient.

When the scan is done, make sure all entries have “checkmark” and click “Quarantine Selected” button.

The Malwarebytes will begin removing Dharma virus related files, folders, registry keys. Once disinfection is complete, you may be prompted to reboot your computer.

The following video explains instructions on how to remove malware and ransomware with Malwarebytes Anti-malware.

Remove Dharma virus with Kaspersky virus removal tool

This removal application is free and easy to use. It can scan and remove ransomware such as Dharma. Kaspersky virus removal tool is powerful enough to find and remove malicious registry entries and files that are hidden on the PC.

Download Kaspersky virus removal tool from the link below and save it directly to your Windows Desktop.

Double-click on the KVRT icon found on your desktop. Once initialization process is finished, you will see the Kaspersky virus removal tool screen as shown below.

Click Change Parameters and set a check near all your drives. Click OK to close the Parameters window. Next click Start scan button. Kaspersky virus removal tool will now start scanning your computer for known infections. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.

When KVRT has finished scanning, you will see a screen like shown below.

Click on Continue to start a cleaning process.

How to restore .dharma and .wallet files

In some cases, you can recover files encrypted by ransomware. Try both methods. Important to understand that we cannot guarantee that you will be able to recover all encrypted documents, photos and other files.

Restore .dharma and .wallet files with ShadowExplorer

Download ShadowExplorer from the following link.

Open a directory in which you saved it. Right click to ShadowExplorer-0.9-portable and select Extract all. Follow the prompts. Next please open the ShadowExplorerPortable folder as shown below.

Double click ShadowExplorerPortable to run it. You will see the following screen.

In top left corner, select a Drive and a latest restore point as shown on the example below (1 – drive, 2 – restore point).

On right panel look for a file that you want to restore, right click to it and select Export. An example below.

Restore .dharma and .wallet files with PhotoRec

Download PhotoRec from the link below.

Open a directory in which you saved it. Right click to testdisk-7.0.win and select Extract all. Follow the prompts. Next please open the testdisk-7.0 folder as shown below.

Double click on qphotorec_win to run PhotoRec for Windows. It will open a screen like below.

Select a drive to recover from as shown below.

You will see a list of available partitions. Select a partition that holds the lost and encrypted files. An example below.

Click on File Formats button and select file types to recover. You can to enable or disable the recovery of certain file types. When this is done, click OK button.

Next, click Browse button to select where recovered files should be written, then click Search.

Count of recovered files is updated in real time. All recovered files are written in a folder that you have selected on the previous step. You can to access the files even if the recovery process is not finished.

When the recovery is completed, click on Quit button. Next, open the directory where recovery files are stored. You will see a contents like below.

All recovered files are written in recup_dir.1, recup_dir.2 … sub-directories. If you are looking for a specific file, then you can to sort your recovered files by extension and/or date/time.

How to prevent my computer from becoming infected by Dharma ransomware?

Most antivirus programs already have built-in protection system against the ransomware. Therefore, if your computer does not have an antivirus program, make sure you install it. As an extra protection, use the CryptoPrevent.

Download CryptoPrevent from the link below.

www.foolishit.com/download/cryptoprevent/

Run it and follow the setup wizard. Once the installation is completed, you will be shown a window where you can select a level of protection, as shown in the following example.

Click the Apply button to activate the protection.

The End.

Your computer should now be free of the Dharma ransomware-type virus. If you need help with the instructions, then ask for help here.