All vb2010.net files ara corrupted

[Freek]

I wanted te use an older version of my vb2010.net project.
The project could not be opened. Inspection of the .vb files shows that they are encrypted or scrambled. Normally you can open these files with a text editor like Notepad. Now it shows only a lot of random characters.

The last 5 previous project versions: all the same. I had stored them on Onedrive and later in Dropbox.
And I had a backup on an external CD-rom from may 2023.
But also these files show after restore that they are corrupted. in the same way.

Now I am wondering what is happening. Ransomware? The file extensions are not changed. I did not get any message or e-mail about a ransom attack or claim.

Could there be something else that caused the encryption that I am not beware of?

Or are there perhaps tools that can analyze if the files ar infected or what has happened?

My virus scanner (Trend Micro) shows no viruses.

In attach an example of a .vb file.

 

[jdelano]

If you view the file on the CD, don't copy it to the hard drive, it doesn't display correctly?

 

[Freek]

If you view the file on the CD, don't copy it to the hard drive, it doesn't display correctly?

No, It also shows the random characters. It must have something to do when I copied the files to Onedrive and later Dropbox. Somewhere in that proces the info was encrypted, scramled, corrupted, whatever.
OR it is a ransomware attack. But the extensions are not changed, nor the date. And I did not receive a ransom- claim.

Can anyone try to open the attached file in Visual Stuidio.NET 2010?

 

[jdelano]

I don't see any attachments.

 

[jmcilhinney]

I don't think anyone here will be or should be opening a file of unknown origin and content.

 

[Freek]

I don't see any attachments.

Here is the attached file in the zip.

 

[JohnH]

It appears to have the EF BB BF byte-order-mark indicating a UTF-8 text file, otherwise no readable content that I can see.

 

[jdelano]

Yeah, that vb file is encrypted, the ID {36A698B9-D67C-4E07-BE82-0EC5B14B4DF5} when searched online, brings back ransomware results. Have you been infected or worse attempting to infect?

This is why I use a VM to view anything from the forums I attempt to help on.