How To Eliminate LoveLock Ransomware From Affected Computers

Know More About LoveLock Ransomware

 

LoveLock Ransomware is a dangerous computer infection that was first detected on 16^th February 2017 and it is not directly related to Love2Lock Ransomware. It may be distributed by using bogus news reports, job applications and CVs attached to the spam emails. The creators of this ransomware might target the human resource departments, medium-sized businesses and hospitals just considering the nature of junk email campaign. In addition, the malware is especially programmed by the criminal hackers in order to target a limited number of databases, which may be an effort to boost up the virus infection. At the time of writing this security article, cyber security experts revealed that LoveLock Ransomware threat is still in development. This version is generally known as Work in Progress (WIP) version of the ransomware which is reported to limit the encryption procedure to a folder named as a “test 2” placed on the infected system’s desktop.

Although, the encryption algorithm in LoveLock Ransomware virus is operational and the makers may be doing debugging just before they release a real official version of the malware. A depth-analysis on this ransomware showed that the threat is coded to encrypt nearly two dozens of the data containers. As a system users may expect, the primary targets of the ransomware are text documents, data containers, spreadsheets and presentations. Malware researchers report that Work in Progress version of this threat scan the drives of the compromised machine for following file types: .XLS, .ASP, .PPT, .DOCX, .XML, .PNG, .MDB, .TXT, .ASPX, .ODT, .XLSX, .DOC, .PPTX, .SQL, .CSV, .PHP, .SLN, .JPG, .PSD, .HTML. Research report confirmed that the LoveLock Ransomware is based on HiddenTear project and includes many customizations in order to obfuscate its malicious operations.

Technical Description on LoveLock Ransomware

Furthermore, the ransomware encodes the data by using AES-256 encipher algorithm and delivers the encryption key to C&C server which is an encoded form as well. In this way, the decryption of the files becomes impossible even if the malware researchers intercept the communications of the ransomware. Computer files that are encrypted by the LoveLock Ransomware feature “.hasp” extension and the stored files do not have their thumbnails available. Besides, the ransom note is displayed as an HTA program window and it has only one line which says, “Test 1”. Security analysts suppose that the creators of this malware may be busy on setting up C&C server and polishing their threat before it gets released with a junk email campaign.

Most importantly, the PC users who recognize that their files are encoded by LoveLock Ransomware virus should check their machine if the Shadow Volume copies are intact. The threat is unable to encrypts data stored on the password-protected drive and if you’re using the one, then your data and files is very likely to be clean. As mentioned above, security analysts had a peek at the in-development version of this ransomware and it is quite possible that system users may be infected with its updated version. Hence, the users should prepare for this malicious attacks and other potential derivatives by install a credible anti-malware tool and also incorporating a trusted backup copies that will help you recover from LoveLock Ransomware attack.

A Tutorial Video For LoveLock Ransomware Removal Guide

 

Free Scan your Windows PC to detect LoveLock Ransomware

What To Do If Your PC Get Infected By LoveLock Ransomware

The ransomware infection has been mainly designed with the purpose to scare users and trick their money. It take your files on hostage and demand ransom to return your important data. But now the question is what you can do when your system got infected by LoveLock Ransomware virus? Here are some option that you can use to get rid of this nasty infection.

Don’t Panic – Well the first thing is Don’t panic and then completely check out your system for any working files. If you got any working files then copy it to USB drive.

Pay Ransom – Other option is you can pay the ransom and wait to get your files back. (really a bad option)

Use Backup – Clean you entire system files, remove the infection completely from your PC and restore your files with any backup.

Remove Infection – You can also delete LoveLock Ransomware virus using malware removal tool and remove all the infected files. You can later recover all your data by using any data recovery tool. (In case you don’t have backup of your files.) – Recommended Method.

Reinstall Windows – The last option is reinstall your Windows OS. It will completely remove all your data as well as infection. You will get a completely new infection free PC.

How To Remove LoveLock Ransomware Virus From Your PC

Step 1 – Boot your computer in Safe mode.

Step 2 – Remove the infected registry entry files.

• Click Windows Flag and R button together.

• Type “regedit” and click OK button

• Find and delete following entries.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREsupWPM

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesWpm

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain “Default_Page_URL”

HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\Software\Classes\[LoveLock Ransomware]

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\[LoveLock Ransomware]

Step 3 – Remove From msconfig

• Click Windows + R buttons simultaneously.

• Type msconfig and press Enter

• Go to Startup tab and uncheck all entries from unknown manufacturer.

Step 4 – Restart your computer normally.

Check your computer now. If the virus has gone then you can start using your computer. If the infection still remains then head to the next step.

Step 5 – System Restore

• Insert Windows installation disk to CD drive and restart your PC.
• While system startup, keep pressing F8 or F12 key to get boot options.
• Now select the boot from CD drive option to start your computer.
• Then after you will get the System Recovery Option on your screen.
• Select the System Restore option from the list.
• Choose a nearest system restore point when your PC was not infected.
• Now follow the option on your screen to Restore your computer.

If the above manual methods didn’t removed LoveLock Ransomware virus then you have only option to remove infection using a malware removal tool. It is last and the only option that can easily and safely remove this nasty threat from your computer.

Having some alarming questions in your mind? Get your doubt cleared from our experienced tech support experts. Just go to the Ask Your Question section, fill in the details and your question. Our expert team will give you detailed reply about your query.