They will claim that ROBM ransomware has encrypted the entire database of the compromised computer and made them unreadable, including important documents, pictures, and other vital information. They will further point out that since they used tough encryption algorithm and custom key, the victim will not be able to have access to the files again unless they pay a particular amount of money so they could be issued the decryption tool. Two emails will also be made available to the victim for communication purposes with the cybercriminals: manager@mailtemp.ch, helprestoremanager@airmail.cc. They will also provide a breakdown of the prices as well as the condition attached with the ransom payment. The victim will be entitled to 50% discount if they can meet up with the ransom demand within 72 hours i.e. 3 days, thus bringing the ransom down to $490. However, if they fail to pay within that period, they will mandate the victim to pay the total ransom fee of $980.  If the victim decides to get in touch with them through the email address, he will be informed that payment can only be made through cryptocurrency i.e. they would have to pay the equivalent amount in Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency of their choice, directly into their wallet address. They use this medium obviously to avoid being tracked down. As a way of convincing the victim, they may request for excerpts of encrypted file for them to decrypt. However, they will emphasize that such excerpt must not have any information that could be perceived as valuable.  Our team of cybersecurity experts strongly recommends FBI guidelines as a template every victim should follow when dealing with cybercriminals and the bottom-line is that victims should avoid paying ransom at all costs. There are various reasons why victims are advised not to pay ransom and they include:

There is no guarantee you will retrieve your encrypted files even after paying.When you pay, you’re encouraging cybercriminals since they would find it profitable. According to statistics, they earn millions annually already.Paying enables them to increase their network and potentials to defraud even more victims.

In addition, the virus is known to drop certain Trojans like VIDAR with the aim of passively stealing very important personal information such as banking details, passwords saved on your browser, cryptocurrency wallets, account login details etc. With such sensitive information in the wrong hands, there would be room for possible blackmails.  If you’re unfortunate to be a victim of this variant of STOP/DJVU virus, it is important that you must remove ROBM ransomware virus as soon as you can. You can do this with the help of a reliable antivirus that would scan your system while it’s in Safe Mode with Networking. This option is recommended to enable the antivirus do a thorough job of detecting and removing any trace of the virus. You can make use of any antivirus you’re sure is absolutely reliable, but we recommend INTEGO Antivirus as it as excellent malware detection rates and also provides robust real-time protection. As additional measure, we typically recommend scanning with RESTORO to repair virus damage inflicted on Windows OS files.

Ransomware Summary

REPAIR VIRUS DAMAGE

Dangerous ransomware distribution channels you should avoid 

Generally, the most prolific channels that expose users to STOP/DJVU ransomware variants, including ROBM virus, is when they download malicious torrents. The virus often hides in such illegal software copies only to become active once they’re downloaded to any computer. Such dangerous software copies could be in the form of fake “crack,” illegal key generators or fake activation tools, among others. Also, note that these contents are often deceptively uploaded to torrent platforms as the real deal, and include the following:  

Corel Draw;Fifa 20;Tenorshare 4ukey;AutoCad;Opera browser;Adobe Photoshop;VMware Workstation;Cubase;Adobe Illustrator;League of Legends;Internet Download Manager;KMSPico (illegal Windows activation tool).

Computer users that often visit such dangerous platforms are strongly advised to immediately desist from doing so. Such sites can only expose individuals to cybercriminals who may be lying in wait to prey on them. In addition to the risks of infection, making use of copyright contents illegally and without the permission of the original producers can lead to lawsuits and criminal charges when discovered. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage original content creators by patronizing them strictly through their official platforms or authorized affiliates or partners. Whatever amount it may cost to do so is very little compared to the outrageous ransom fees cybercriminals will demand when you become their victim. Likewise, there won’t be risk of your personal sensitive data getting into the wrong hands.   Another medium cybercriminals often use to spread ransomware is by hiding them in email attachments. They may decide to compose fake but genuine looking messages using platforms like XLS, DOCX and PDF among others that support JavaScript or macro functions. Through these platforms, the virus can be exported to any computer.  Victims of ransomware should avoid any website or platform that claims to offer decryption services because such bogus claims are usually fake and cybercriminals often use the so-called STOP/DJVU decryptors to spread other variants of ransomware like ZORAB. At the moment, only Emsisoft and DiskTuna have reliable STOP/DJVU decryption/repair tools. 

More information about ROBM virus

This section provides technical details and would help you to know more about the extent your computer was compromised during ROBM ransomware attack. The first thing the virus does after infiltrating a computer system is to establish build.exe or build2.exe algorithm as well as winupdate.exe (which simulate fake window update display). It then makes a connection with https[:]//api.2ip.ua/geo.json, before saving the result in geo.json file. Thereafter, the malware begins to extract all vital details about the computer such as its geolocation, time zone, zip code, latitude and longitude and all other software and hardware details it deems important. These details are then forwarded to the control server.  Shown below is a display of geo.json file contents. From the extracted information, the malware will profile the country code against their database to ascertain if the location is in any of their encryption exempted countries, particularly; Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Kazachstan, Tajikistan and Armenia. If it matches with any of the listed countries, they will automatically stop any further action. However, if it doesn’t match, it will proceed and create an online encryption key along with the victim’s ID and then save them both on the bowsakkdestx.txt file and the ID separately to PersonalID.txt file.  An image of these files is displayed below. However, the malware will make use of an offline encryption ID peradventure it fails to obtain an online one. The major difference between an online and offline key is that the latter is uniform for all victims. You can distinguish if an offline key was used if the individual ID has t1 characters at the end of it. It may interest you to note that the use of offline key brightens your chance of decrypting .robm files. Moreover, the ransomware takes a screenshot of the victim’s desktop and collects information regarding installed software, active processes and hardware details into information.txt file. The virus then sends the screenshot and the text file to its server as well. A screenshot of the information.txt file is shown below. The next stage of the malware compromising process is the data encryption proper by scanning the entire folders. It then encrypts them using Salsa20 before using the RSA-2048 key to lock the encryption. While this is going on, it will identify each file with additional extension. The image below shows _readme.txt ransom note dropped in each folder. At this point, all Volume Shadow Copies will be deleted by the malware with the aid of Command Prompt task as displayed below;  vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet In concluding the process, the virus will send certain domain names to the Windows HOSTS file and connects them to the localhost IP. This move effectively prevents the victim from having access to any of the websites in the list. DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error message may appear each time an attempt to access them is made. They do this in order to prevent the user from getting possible help online. At this juncture, the virus may increase the malware load on the victim’s computer through VIDAR Trojan. 

Remove ROBM Ransomware Virus and Recover Your Files

Like we stated earlier, victims of this variant of malware should report to relevant local authorities as soon as they can and also remove ROBM ransomware virus ASAP (you can follow the guideline provided below). You can equally follow the explanation below on how you can start your computer using the Safe Mode with Networking. This option will enable the antivirus to optimally remove all traces of the malware. If you have any reliable antivirus that is capable of doing this perfectly, you can go ahead and make use of it. Otherwise, we recommend INTEGO Antivirus because it has been proven to be absolutely effective.  Once you remove the ransomware, you may want to download RESTORO to scan your computer for free. This software can identify virus damage to the system and repair it without the need to reinstall the operating system. Post ROBM ransomware virus removal guide as recommended by our experts: 

Get in touch with relevant local authorities and inform them about the cyber-attack.Restore your data with a backup device (ensure your computer is 100% free of the virus before doing this).Study how to decrypt STOP/DJVU-encrypted files. Change all passwords associated with the compromised computer. 

Not sure of what antivirus to use? Then we strongly advise you to go for INTEGO Antivirus, it is a top notch antivirus that will give your computer system all-round protection. OUR GEEKS RECOMMEND Our team recommends a two-step rescue plan to remove ransomware and other remaining malware from your computer, plus repair caused virus damage to the system: GeeksAdvice.com editors select recommended products based on their effectiveness. We may earn a commission from affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. Learn more. Get INTEGO ANTIVIRUS for Windows to remove ransomware, Trojans, adware and other spyware and malware variants and protect your PC and network drives 24/7. This VB100-certified security software uses state-of-art technology to provide protection against ransomware, Zero-Day attacks and advanced threats, Intego Web Shield blocks dangerous websites, phishing attacks, malicious downloads and installation of potentially unwanted programs. Use INTEGO Antivirus to remove detected threats from your computer. Read full review here. RESTORO provides a free scan that helps to identify hardware, security and stability issues and presents a comprehensive report which can help you to locate and fix detected issues manually. It is a great PC repair software to use after you remove malware with professional antivirus. The full version of software will fix detected issues and repair virus damage caused to your Windows OS files automatically. RESTORO uses AVIRA scanning engine to detect existing spyware and malware. If any are found, the software will eliminate them. Read full review here.

Method 1. Enter Safe Mode with Networking

Before you try to remove ROBM Ransomware Virus virus, you must start your computer in Safe Mode with Networking. Below, we provide the easiest ways to boot PC in the said mode, but you can find additional ones in this in-depth tutorial on our website – How to Start Windows in Safe Mode. Also, if you prefer a video version of the tutorial, check our guide How to Start Windows in Safe Mode on Youtube. Instructions for Windows XP/Vista/7 users Instructions for Windows 8/8.1/10/11 users Now, you can search for and remove ROBM Ransomware Virus files. It is very hard to identify files and registry keys that belong to the ransomware virus, Besides, malware creators tend to rename and change them repeatedly. Therefore, the easiest way to uninstall such type of a computer virus is to use a reliable security program such as INTEGO Antivirus. For virus damage repair, consider using RESTORO.

Method 2. Use System Restore

In order to use System Restore, you must have a system restore point, created either manually or automatically. Instructions for Windows XP/Vista/7 users Instructions for Windows 8/8.1/10/11 users After restoring the system, we recommend scanning the system with antivirus or anti-malware software. In most cases, there won’t be any malware remains, but it never hurts to double-check. In addition, we highly recommend checking ransomware prevention guidelines provided by our experts in order to protect your PC against similar viruses in the future.

Alternative software recommendations

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Removing spyware and malware is one step towards cybersecurity. To protect yourself against ever-evolving threats, we strongly recommend purchasing a Premium version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, which provides security based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Includes ransomware protection. See pricing options and protect yourself now.

System Mechanic Ultimate Defense If you’re looking for an all-in-one system maintenance suite that has 7 core components providing powerful real-time protection, on-demand malware removal, system optimization, data recovery, password manager, online privacy protection and secure driver wiping technology. Therefore, due to its wide-range of capabilities, System Mechanic Ultimate Defense deserves Geek’s Advice approval. Get it now for 50% off. You may also be interested in its full review.

Disclaimer. This site includes affiliate links. We may earn a small commission by recommending certain products, at no additional cost for you. We only choose quality software and services to recommend.

Decrypt ROBM files

Fix and open large ROBM files easily:

It is reported that STOP/DJVU ransomware versions encrypt only the beginning 150 KB of each file to ensure that the virus manages to affect all files on the system. In some cases, the malicious program might skip some files at all. That said, we recommend testing this method on several big (>1GB) files first.

STOP/DJVU decryption tool usage guide

STOP/DJVU ransomware versions are grouped into old and new variants. ROBM Ransomware Virus is considered the new STOP/DJVU variant, just like BPTO, ISWR, ISZA, BPSM, ZOUU, MBTF, ZNSM (find full list here). This means full data decryption is now possible only if you have been affected by offline encryption key. To decrypt your files, you will have to download Emsisoft Decryptor for STOP DJVU, a tool created and maintained by a genius security researcher Michael Gillespie. Note! Please do not spam the security researcher with questions whether he can recover your files encrypted with online key - it is not possible. In order to test the tool and see if it can decrypt ROBM files, follow the given tutorial.

Meanings of decryptor’s messages

The ROBM decryption tool might display several different messages after failed attempt to restore your files. You might receive one of the following messages: Error: Unable to decrypt file with ID: [example ID] This message typically means that there is no corresponding decryption key in the decryptor’s database. No key for New Variant online ID: [example ID]Notice: this ID appears to be an online ID, decryption is impossible This message informs that your files were encrypted with online key, meaning no one else has the same encryption/decryption key pair, therefore data recovery without paying the criminals is impossible. Result: No key for new variant offline ID: [example ID]This ID appears to be an offline ID. Decryption may be possible in the future. If you were informed that an offline key was used, but files could not be restored, it means that the offline decryption key isn’t available yet. However, receiving this message is extremely good news, meaning that it might be possible to restore your ROBM extension files in the future. It can take a few months until the decryption key gets found and uploaded to the decryptor. We recommend you to follow updates regarding the decryptable DJVU versions here. We strongly recommend backing up your encrypted data and waiting.

Victims of ROBM Ransomware Virus should report the Internet crime incident to the official government fraud and scam website according to their country:

In the United States, go to the On Guard Online website.In Australia, go to the SCAMwatch website.In Germany, go to the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik website.In Ireland, go to the An Garda Síochána website.In New Zealand, go to the Consumer Affairs Scams website.In the United Kingdom, go to the Action Fraud website.In Canada, go to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.In India, go to Indian National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.In France, go to the Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information.

If you can’t find an authority corresponding to your location on this list, we recommend using any search engine to look up “[your country name] report cyber crime”. This should lead you to the right authority website. We also recommend staying away from third-party crime report services that are often paid. It costs nothing to report Internet crime to official authorities. Another recommendation is to contact your country’s or region’s federal police or communications authority.