Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Note! Your computer might be affected by LOCKER-PAY and other threats.
Threats such as LOCKER-PAY may be persistent on your system. They tend to re-appear if not fully deleted. A malware removal tool like SpyHunter will help you to remove malicious programs, saving you the time and the struggle of tracking down numerous malicious files. SpyHunter’s scanner is free but the paid version is needed to remove the malware threats. Read SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
This article has been created to best explain how to remove LOCKER-PAY ransomware virus from your computer and how to unlock your screen effectively.
The LOCKER-PAY ransomware virus is a threat which aims to lock your computer screen and then demand that you make a payment to unlock it. The virus may use different types of scripts to prevent users to bypass the lockscreen even after you press every key on your keyboard. In case your computer has been infected by the LOCKER-PAY ransomware virus, we strongly recommend that you read this article instead of paying a hefty ransom fee.
Threat Summary
Name
LOCKER-PAY
Type
Lockscreen Ransomware
Short Description
Locks your screen and keeps it that way until you pay a ransom in BTC.
Symptoms
The screen Is locked with an annoying message and you cannot work on your computer.
Distribution Method
Spam Emails, Email Attachments, Executable files
Detection Tool
See If Your System Has Been Affected by LOCKER-PAY
The LOCKER-PAY ransomware may be spread via multiple different methods, the primary of which may be via e-mail malspam, like the example below displays:
Usually such e-mails tend to carry the infection file of ransomware viruses, like LOCKER-PAY. The files are either concealed documents with malicous macros which cause an infection by clicking on the “Enable Content” button or be direct executable type of files, for example:
→ .exe, .vbs, .wsf, .js, .htm, .hta, .bat
Once the victim clicks on those files, the infection process is triggered and conducted in an obfuscated manner so that the victim is unable to detect that his or hers computer is being attacked.
Other methods by which you can end up a victim of the LOCKER-PAY ransomware threat are if you open a malicous file that pretends to be a legitimate setup of a program you were looking to download online. The same goes for any type of downloaded file – game cracks, key generators and many others.
LOCKER-PAY Virus – Analysis
The LOCKER-PAY ransomware threat is a locksreen type of malware, which aims to modify the settings on your computer so that it completely denies you from using it. This is done by firstly dropping the malicious files of LOCKER-PAY immediately after infection. They may be more than one and may be located under different names in the following Windows folders:
After dropping the malicious files, the LOCKER-PAY virus may attack numerous Windows registry entries in the Windows registry editor. As soon as it does this, the ransomware may display an error message, restart the infected computer, after which locks out the screen, displaying the following image:
Text from image:
“YOUR SYSTEM HAS BEEN LOCKED BY LOCKER-PAY RAMSOMWARE! Your system is now locked! You can’t use antivirus, listen music, edit documents, etc. But don’t worry! I haven’t encrypt them yet. You have 48 hours to buy special unlocking key. After this time, your hard drive will be FORMATTER! If you reboot your computer or try to close me, your hard drive will be FORMATTER too! See “How can I pay?” to do a payment. It’s very easy =) After, if you done payment, if you enter unlocking key to the box below, your computer will be unlocked and you’ll see desktop with your files.”
After the lock procedure, the user cannot use any aspect of his computer, except to type the Unlock key and to click on the “How can I pay?” button to see further unlock instructons.
Despite the situation being as it is, security experts strongly urge all victims of LOCKER-PAY not to do any type of Bitcoin payment to cyber-criminals, because they should not be trusted and remove the virus instead.
Remove LOCKER-PAY Ransomware and Unlock Your Screen
There are multiple methods to remove this virus from your computer. We strongly suggest you to try and bypass the lockscreen in Safe Mode, using the instructions below after which you should be able to remove it by following either the manual or the automatic removal instructions to get rid of LOCKER-PAY. For maximum effectiveness during the removal process, we advise you to boot into Safe Mode with networking and install and advanced anti-malware software which has the one and only goal to fully and safely remove the LOCKER-PAY threat and ensure future protection against malware.
Note! Your computer system may be affected by LOCKER-PAY and other threats. Scan Your PC with SpyHunter SpyHunter is a powerful malware removal tool designed to help users with in-depth system security analysis, detection and removal of threats such as LOCKER-PAY. Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
To remove LOCKER-PAY follow these steps:
1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove LOCKER-PAY files and objects
OFFER
Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!
We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter
Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria
Boot Your PC Into Safe Mode
1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7. 2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.
For Windows XP, Vista and 7 systems:
1. Remove all CDs and DVDs, and then Restart your PC from the “Start” menu. 2. Select one of the two options provided below:
– For PCs with a single operating system: Press “F8” repeatedly after the first boot screen shows up during the restart of your computer. In case the Windows logo appears on the screen, you have to repeat the same task again.
– For PCs with multiple operating systems: Тhe arrow keys will help you select the operating system you prefer to start in Safe Mode. Press “F8” just as described for a single operating system.
3. As the “Advanced Boot Options” screen appears, select the Safe Mode option you want using the arrow keys. As you make your selection, press “Enter“.
4. Log on to your computer using your administrator account
While your computer is in Safe Mode, the words “Safe Mode” will appear in all four corners of your screen.
Step 1: Open up the Start Menu.
Step 2: Click on the Power button (for Windows 8 it is the little arrow next to the “Shut Down” button) and whilst holding down “Shift” click on Restart.
Step 3: After reboot, a blue menu with options will appear. From them you should choose Troubleshoot.
Step 4: You will see the Troubleshoot menu. From this menu choose Advanced Options.
Step 5: After the Advanced Options menu appears, click on Startup Settings.
Step 6: From the Startup Settings menu, click on Restart.
Step 7: A menu will appear upon reboot. You can choose any of the three Safe Mode options by pressing its corresponding number and the machine will restart.
Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries on your computer to change different settings. This is why cleaning your Windows Registry Database is recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit long and tampering with registries could damage your computer if not done properly you should refer and follow our instructive article about fixing registry entries, especially if you are unexperienced in that area.
2. Find files created by LOCKER-PAY on your PC
Find files created by LOCKER-PAY
1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. 2. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
For Newer Windows Operating Systems
Step 1:
On your keyboard press + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.
Step 2:
Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.
Step 3:
Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:
N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.
For Older Windows Operating Systems
In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:
Step 1:
Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.
Step 2:
After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.
Step 3:
After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.
Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.
Use SpyHunter to scan for malware and unwanted programs
3. Scan for malware and unwanted programs with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Scan your PC and Remove LOCKER-PAY with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for LOCKER-PAY and remove them.2. Scan with SpyHunter, Detect and Remove LOCKER-PAY. Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.
Step 1: Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.
It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.
Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.
Step 1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.
Step 2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.
Step 3: If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.
Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future
IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats. We recommend you to read more about it and to download SOS Online Backup.
4. Try to Restore files encrypted by LOCKER-PAY
Try to Restore Files Encrypted by LOCKER-PAY
Ransomware infections and LOCKER-PAY aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested several alternative methods that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that these methods may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
Method 1: Scanning your drive’s sectors by using Data Recovery software. Another method for restoring your files is by trying to bring back your files via data recovery software. Here are some suggestions for preferred data recovery software solutions:
Method 2: Trying Kaspersky and EmsiSoft’s decryptors. If the first method does not work, we suggest trying to use decryptors for other ransomware viruses, in case your virus is a variant of them. The two primary developers of decryptors are Kaspersky and EmsiSoft, links to which we have provided below:
To restore your data in case you have backup set up, it is important to check for Volume Shadow Copies, if ransomware has not deleted them, in Windows using the below software:
Method 4: Finding the decryption key while the cryptovirus sends it over a network via a sniffing tool.
Another way to decrypt the files is by using a Network Sniffer to get the encryption key, while files are encrypted on your system. A Network Sniffer is a program and/or device monitoring data traveling over a network, such as its internet traffic and internet packets. If you have a sniffer set before the attack happened you might get information about the decryption key. See how-to instructions below:
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
Ventsislav has been covering the latest malware, software and newest tech developments at SensorsTechForum for 3 years now. He started out as a network administrator. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management and then Network Administration, he found his passion within cybersecrurity and is a strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.
This article has been created to best explain how to remove LOCKER-PAY ransomware virus from your computer and how to unlock your screen effectively.
1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7.
2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.
Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for LOCKER-PAY and remove them.
Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.
