Emsisoft Decryptor for Planetary

First discovered back in 2018, the Planetary ransomware family is present in the “wild” in different variants, each with its own particularities. Aside from manual proliferation, Planetary also spreads via fake software updates, spam emails with infected attachments, malicious ads and dangerous websites.

Like any other malware in this category, once it reaches a victim’s computer, Planetary starts encrypting various types of files using the AES-256 algorithm, rendering them unusable. Previously functional files now have a different extension, namely ".mira", ".yum", ".Neptune", or ".Pluto". A ransom note called "!!!READ_IT!!!.txt" is created in the folders where encrypted files are located.

If you find yourself a victim of this ransomware, then you should know that there is a dedicated decryption tool that you can use to try to recover your files without having to pay the requested ransom. It goes by the name of Emsisoft Decryptor for Planetary.

There are two methods to get the decryption key with Emsisoft Decryptor for Planetary. The first requires you to provide a pair of files consisting of an encrypted file and its original. You can perhaps get the original from a backup you created before getting infected.

The second method is perhaps more convenient, as you surely have a ransom note at your disposal. The decryptor asks you for its location and, once you configure the number of threads to use during the analysis, you can hit the “Start” button.

The reconstructed decryption key is displayed in a popup window. While the application is specifically created to unlock files encrypted by the Planetary ransomware, there is a slight chance that the key is wrong. It is recommended that you try decrypting a few files to make sure it is correct. Once you do so, you can proceed to batch decryption with Emsisoft Decryptor for Planetary.

While an application such as Emsisoft Decryptor for Planetary does not offer a guarantee that it will get back your files, neither does paying up the ransom. You got nothing to lose if you try unlocking encrypted files with this software utility.