Login

**george759** · 09-07-2016, 02:14 PM

I have some bad news and to be precise i will quote the answer from the site " EverythingAccess.com" :

"Unfortunately, it looks like the content of the file is encrypted or scrambled. You can check this out yourself using a hex editor (such as XVI32). If it were the built-in Access encryption, the file header (the first 4096 bytes of the file) would still be readable (unencrypted), but that is not the case here since the whole file from beginning to end is scrambled. This could even be a hardware failure -e.g. if your harddrive is malfunctioning it can cause fragments of files to become mixed up.

Ultimately, it is not possible for us to recover anything from the encrypted or scrambled file, as there is no means to decode it.

Just a small note; there are many viruses that encrypt users documents and files and then attempts to blackmail you into paying for the means to decrypt them (dubbed 'ransomware'). To be on the safe side, I'd advise making sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date, just in case this file has been encrypted by a virus."

I suggested to them if it would be beneficiary to upload to them a previous back file of the file in question - about 18 before and with size of 3.56 MB. Their answer was :

Unfortunately, it's not possible for us to help. There is no possibility of decryption, as the decryption key is only known to the virus writers.

**Partha** · 09-07-2016, 03:57 PM

I kind of expected that and am sure you must have as well. The files have been heavily corrupted.

I can understand how it feels to lose important files but, we have to get over it

**george759** · (This post was last modified: 09-07-2016, 04:32 PM by george759.)

(09-07-2016, 03:57 PM)Partha Wrote: I kind of expected that and am sure you must have as well. The files have been heavily corrupted.

I can understand how it feels to lose important files but, we have to get over it

Everything you said are correct, and it is my duty to thank you for all your assistance through this ' Marathonian ' thread. The sad feeling is that this infected famous USB file, was created thinking I was performing a backup. I wish I didn' t.

**Partha** · (This post was last modified: 09-07-2016, 04:47 PM by Partha.)

No problems. If what I think did actually happen, then while you were backing up the files, they wouldn't have been infected, and so there's no need to feel sorry for backing them up

The files must have got infected when your system was infected with the ransomware

**george759** · 09-07-2016, 04:52 PM

(09-07-2016, 04:42 PM)Partha Wrote: No problems. If what I think did actually happen, then while you were backing up the files, they wouldn't have been infected, and so there's no need to feel sorry for backing them up

The files must have got infected when your system was infected with the ransomware

At least I would had the previous backup, which would one month old, and not the one I found in one stick of March 2013 !

**george759** · 09-07-2016, 07:53 PM

(09-07-2016, 07:27 PM)Partha Wrote:
(09-07-2016, 04:52 PM)george759 Wrote: At least I would had the previous backup, which would one month old, and not the one I found in one stick of March 2013 !
I didn't understand this. Are you saying that you had taken a backup of those files a month before the infection took place?

I meant the following :
I used to keep regular backups to this USB stick #! - size 11.0 MB.
There is also another USB stick #2 ( which I found later) with a backup of March 2013 and which is still in tact - size 3.56 MB - and obviously very old.
The whole fuzz is regarding stick #1.
Now before the USB stick (#1) got infected ( Nov. 2015), it had a backup let' s say of Sept. 2015.
What I said before is, if I had not done the backup at all with the infected stuff, I would have this moment a non-infected backup, but dated Sept. 2015 !!!
But bow Parha, it is now all academic and the ... only hope is to find the ... encryption key ...Ha, Ha

***Britec*** · 09-10-2016, 02:41 PM

A simple screen show would of clarified if these files were encrypted, but it was never posted, which makes it a bit of a guessing game.

**RichTech** · 09-10-2016, 02:43 PM

(09-10-2016, 02:41 PM)Britec Wrote: A simple screen show would of clarified if these files were encrypted, but it was never posted, which makes it a bit of a guessing game.

Fair point Britec

**Partha** · (This post was last modified: 09-10-2016, 03:09 PM by Partha.)

(09-07-2016, 07:53 PM)george759 Wrote: What I said before is, if I had not done the backup at all with the infected stuff, I would have this moment a non-infected backup, but dated Sept. 2015 !!!
But bow Parha, it is now all academic and the ... only hope is to find the ... encryption key ...Ha, Ha

I can understand but no one could've predicted what happened and so, try not to feel sorry. Just try to be cautious from the next time.

(09-10-2016, 02:41 PM)Britec Wrote: A simple screen show would of clarified if these files were encrypted, but it was never posted, which makes it a bit of a guessing game.

Yes, true

**george759** · 09-10-2016, 04:07 PM

(09-10-2016, 03:09 PM)Partha Wrote:
(09-10-2016, 02:41 PM)Britec Wrote: A simple screen show would of clarified if these files were encrypted, but it was never posted, which makes it a bit of a guessing game.
Yes, true

I did the best I could, following the responses from all you people.
On the response to what Brian pointed out, I would say that that the lack of knowledge for the specific matter from my part, prohibits me to express an opinion.
I still do not know what this simple screen it is about, and how should someone interpret this screen.

If you still want me to do this, please specify exactly what you would have liked me to have done a long time ago
(although it has been proved, that the files got infected).

No matter what you decide, I am very greatfull to Brian, to Partha and to all people that participated in this thread.