Baal Virus (. Baal Files) — How to Remove?

What is Baal virus?

The renaming will be done according to the following pattern: .baal. After the encryption, a file entitled, for instance, “report.docx” will be changed to “report.docx.[2AF20FA3].[].baal”.

In every folder with the encrypted files, a readme-warning.txt file will appear. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other information. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the Baal developers. You can get this tool after contacting via email. That is basically the scheme of the malefaction.

The readme-warning.txt document coming in package with the Baal ransomware states the following:

::: Greetings :::


Little FAQ:
.1.
Q: Whats Happen?
A: Your files have been encrypted and now have the "baal" extension. The file structure was not damaged, we did everything possible so that this could not happen.


.2.
Q: How to recover files?
A: If you wish to decrypt your files you will need to pay in bitcoins.


.3.
Q: What about guarantees?
A: Its just a business. We absolutely do not care about you and your deals, except getting benefits. If we do not do our work and liabilities - nobody will cooperate with us. Its not in our interests.
To check the ability of returning files, you can send to us any 2 files with SIMPLE extensions(jpg,xls,doc, etc... not databases!) and low sizes(max 1 mb), we will decrypt them and send back to you. That is our guarantee.

 

.4.
Q: How to contact with you?
A: You can write us to our mailbox:  or 


.5.
Q: How will the decryption process proceed after payment?
A: After payment we will send to you our scanner-decoder program and detailed instructions for use. With this program you will be able to decrypt all your encrypted files.


.6.
Q: If I don’t want to pay bad people like you?
A: If you will not cooperate with our service - for us, its does not matter. But you will lose your time and data, cause only we have the private key. In practice - time is much more valuable than money.


:::BEWARE:::
DON'T try to change encrypted files by yourself!
If you will try to use any third party software for restoring your data or antivirus solutions - please make a backup for all encrypted files!
Any changes in encrypted files may entail damage of the private key and, as result, the loss all data.

In the image below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Baal looks like. Each filename has the “.baal” extension added to it.

How did my machine catch Baal ransomware?

Nowadays, there are three most exploited methods for evil-doers to have ransomware working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer-to-peer networks.

If you open your inbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose mailer is unknown to you, beware of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a ransomware file attached to them. Thus it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with letters like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan horse model³. A Trojan is an object that infiltrates into your PC disguised as something else. For instance, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some software. But what is unpacked turns out to be a harmful program that encodes your data. As the installation package can have any title and any icon, you have to make sure that you can trust the source of the files you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software companies’ official websites.

As for the peer-to-peer networks like torrent trackers or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. You can never guess what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the directory containing the downloaded files with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is complete.