This article will help you remove .osiris file extension virus (Locky ransomware) successfully. Follow the ransomware removal instructions below carefully.
Another version of the top 3 malware ever to be recorded, Locky Ransomware has come out into the open in a massive spam campaign infecting users as of now. The ransom malware aims to encrypt the files on the users’ computers after which changes their names and adds the .osiris file extension to the files. The algorithms used by the ransomware virus are RSA-2048 and AES-128 and they make sure the files become no longer openable until the victim of the virus pays the ransom of 3 BTC to restore the files, which is not guaranteed. Continue reading this article in order to familiarize yourself with the latest Locky iteration and learn what is the best way to eliminate it permanently from your computer.
Threat Summary
| Name | Locky .osiris |
| Type | Ransomware, Cryptovirus |
| Short Description | The .osiris virus encrypts your data and then displays a ransom message with instructions for payment. |
| Symptoms | Encrypted files by .osiris Locky will have the .osiris expansion after their name and their names changed with random characters appended to them. |
| Distribution Method | Spam Emails, Email Attachments, malicious .xls files, .htm Files, .js files, .ZIP archives |
| Detection Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by malware Download Malware Removal Tool | User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss Locky .osiris. |
| Data Recovery Tool | Windows Data Recovery by Stellar Phoenix Notice! This product scans your drive sectors to recover lost files and it may not recover 100% of the encrypted files, but only few of them, depending on the situation and whether or not you have reformatted your drive. |
.osiris Locky Virus – What Is New
The clever individuals who have coded Locky ransomware have become stuck to a method which is very well-known to work best, even though a little outdated – spam e-mails. The crooks have a wide network of resources to spread the malware and the e-mail messages they use are very cleverly designed fake messages. This tactic is also known as “social engineering” or simply playing the inexperienced user for access to his PC.
What the cyber-criminals behind Locky do is they attack couple of documents among which is a malicious .xls file pretending to be Microsoft excel which may conduct the infection by Locky ransomware using a malicious macro. Accompanying the .xls file are several .txt files just to make the e-mail seem more legitimate. The body of the e-mail discovered by TMMalAnalyst (Twitter) states the following message:
Another e-mail was discovered later and uploaded in Pastebin with those contents:
Dear {name},
Our accountants have noticed a mistake in the payment bill #DEC-12112015.
The full information regarding the mistake, and further recommendations are in the attached document.
Please confirm the amount and let us know if you have any questions.
Attachment: bill5543521.zip -> -W24C24SS543.js
And accompanying this message are the malicious files attached which once clicked on by the user make the successful infection with Locky .osiris inevitable. This is done with the assistance of an extremely large network of distribution hosts:
Are the Botnet Rumors True?
Several rumors surfaced that Locky ransomware has been using the ransomware infection just as an excuse to cause a second infection with an information-stealing botnet malware. For those uninformed, botnet is malware that replicates automatically on a given network hence increasing the impact and it’s “zombie network” of submissive computers to the cyber-criminal controlling it.
So far, Tripwire has reported this event to occur in the .zzzzz iteration of Locky ransomware (previous one to .osiris) and many feel convinced that history shall repeat itself, primarily because not much has changed between the two iterations of the ransomware. So what is expected from this iteration is to repeat the same process – after infecting the victim to connect to an external IP address and make the computer a part of a large-scale bot network. This is extremely dangerous because someone in control may damage or take advantage of a vast number of machines, and even simultaneously damage them in some cases.
How Does The .osiris Locky Virus Work
After the user has been infected via this malicious infection file, whether it is .htm, .js or .xls, the ransomware is already activated on the computer and slips past any real-time defenses and process monitoring services of standard security software.
Then Locky .osiris ransomware may modify the registry sub-key Desktop so that it changes the wallpaper of the infected computer to the default Locky wallpaper:
After this, the .osiris ransomware drops the following files on the infected system:
- OSIRIS-{RANDOM}.htm in %Documents%
- Shtefans1.spe in %Temp%
- Rundll32.exe (malicious executable file pretending to be legitimate rundll process of Windows)
After these files are dropped, the Locky .osiris virus begins the encryption procedure. To successfully encrypt the files on the infected computer, the ransomware virus uses a strong mixture of RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) and AES(Advanced Encryption Standard) which are ciphers that were confirmed to be used by the government to encode secret files for defensive purposes. These ciphers replace blocks or segments of data on the source code of the encrypted file and this makes it no longer openable. After the .osiris virus encrypts the files, it also respectively ads it’s distinctive extension and random A-Z, 0-9 identification on each encrypted file. The files are reported by Marcelo Rivero (Twitter) to be altered in the following format:
After the user becomes presented with the .hta file which has instructions on how to pay funds, the user is led to a website, advertising Locky Decrypter, just like it’s previous .shit, .zzzzz, .aesir, .odin, .locky and .thor ransomware variants:
Should the user choose to pay the ransom amount, there is no guarantee on whether or not his files will be successfully recovered or not. This is why malware research experts strongly advise against trusting cyber-crooks.
The .osiris virus is still infecting computers to this day and regarded as one of the toughest ransomware viruses.
Remove Locky Ransomware and Restore .Osiris Encrypted Files
The first thing that springs up to mind when removing Locky ransomware is to simply delete any files you see. This is highly inadvisable and may further complicate the situation. Instead, malware researchers strongly advise taking a more surgical approach and removing the malicious files using an advanced malware scanner which automatically and swiftly takes care of Locky without any further damage to the files.
After you have removed Locky’s .osiris ransomware virus, the next step for you is to try and restore your files. But, before restoring the files we strongly urge you to create couple of copies of them and then try the methods we have suggested in step “2. Restore files encrypted by Locky .osiris” below. This way you will not risk the actual files why attempting those alternative solutions. Let us know in the comment section below whether or not the solutions worked and do not hesitate to ask us any questions, we will attempt to help to the best of our abilities.
Attention! SensorsTechForum strongly recommends that all malware victims should look for assistance only by reputable sources. Many guides out there claim to offer free recovery and decryption for files encrypted by ransomware viruses. Be advised that some of them may only be after your money.
As a site that has been dedicated to providing free removal instructions for ransomware and malware since 2014, SensorsTechForum’s recommendation is to only pay attention to trustworthy sources.
How to recognize trustworthy sources:
- Always check "About Us" web page.
- Profile of the content creator.
- Make sure that real people are behind the site and not fake names and profiles.
- Verify Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter personal profiles.
How to Remove Locky .osiris from Windows.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Locky .osiris
Step 2: Uninstall Locky .osiris and related software from Windows
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.Step 3: Clean any registries, created by Locky .osiris on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by Locky .osiris there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click "Modify" to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.Before starting "Step 4", please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Step 4: Scan for Locky .osiris with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool
Step 5 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Locky .osiris.
Ransomware infections and Locky .osiris aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
Simply click on the link and on the website menus on top, choose Data Recovery - Data Recovery Wizard for Windows or Mac (depending on your OS), and then download and run the tool.
Get rid of Locky .osiris from Mac OS X.
Step 1: Uninstall Locky .osiris and remove related files and objects
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
- Go to Finder.
- In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
- Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
- If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.
In case you cannot remove Locky .osiris via Step 1 above:
In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:
You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:
→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.
Step 3 (Optional): Try to Restore Files Encrypted by Locky .osiris.
Ransomware infections and Locky .osiris aim to encrypt your files using an encryption algorithm which may be very difficult to decrypt. This is why we have suggested a data recovery method that may help you go around direct decryption and try to restore your files. Bear in mind that this method may not be 100% effective but may also help you a little or a lot in different situations.
Simply click on the link and on the website menus on top, choose Data Recovery - Data Recovery Wizard for Windows or Mac (depending on your OS), and then download and run the tool.
Locky .osiris FAQ
What is Locky .osiris ransomware and how does it work?
Locky .osiris is a ransomware infection - the malicious software that enters your computer silently and blocks either access to the computer itself or encrypt your files.
Many ransomware viruses use sophisticated encryption algorithm how to make your files inaccessible. The goal of ransomware infections is to demand that you pay a ransom payment to get access to your files back.
How does Locky .osiris ransomware infect my computer?
Via several ways.Locky .osiris Ransomware infects computers by being sent via phishing e-mails, containing virus attachment.
This attachment is usually masked as an important document, like an invoice, bank document or even a plane ticket and it looks very convincing to users.
After you download and execute this attachment, a drive-by download occurs and your computer is infected with the ransomware virus.
Another way, you may become a victim of Locky .osiris is if you download a fake installer, crack or patch from a low reputation website or if you click on a virus link. Many users report getting a ransomware infection by downloading torrents.
How to open .Locky .osiris files?
You can't. At this point the .Locky .osiris files are encrypted. You can only open them once they are decrypted.
Decryptor did not decrypt my data. What now?
Do not panic and backup the files. If a decryptor did not decrypt your .Locky .osiris files successfully, then do not despair, because this virus is still new.
One way to restore files, encrypted by Locky .osiris ransomware is to use a decryptor for it. But since it's a new virus, advised that the decryption keys for it may not be out yet and available to the public. We will update this article and keep you posted as soon as this decryptor is released.
How Do I restore ".Locky .osiris" files (Other Methods)?
Yes, sometimes files can be restored. We have suggested several file recovery methods that could work if you want to restore .Locky .osiris files.
These methods are in no way 100% guarantee that you will be able to get your files back. But if you have a backup, your chances of success are much greater.
How do I get rid of Locky .osiris ransomware virus?
The safest way and the most efficient one for the removal of this ransomware infection is the use a professional anti malware software. It will scan for and locate Locky .osiris ransomware and then remove it without causing any additional harm to your important .Locky .osiris files.
Also, keep in mind that viruses like Locky .osiris ransomware also install Trojans and keyloggers that can steal your passwords and accounts. Scanning your computer with an anti-malware software will make sure that all of these virus components are removed and your computer is protected in the future.
What to Do If nothing works?
There is still a lot you can do. If none of the above methods seem to work for you, then try these methods:
- Try to find a safe computer from where you can can login on your own line accounts like One Drive, iDrive, Google Drive and so on.
- Try to contact your friends, relatives and other people so that they can check if they have some of your important photos or documents just in case you sent them.
- Also, check if some of the files that were encrypted it can be re-downloaded from the web.
- Another clever way to get back some of your files is to find another old computer, a flash drive or even a CD or a DVD where you may have saved your older documents. You might be surprised what will turn up.
- You can also go to your email account to check if you can send any attachments to other people. Usually what is sent the email is saved on your account and you can re-download it. But most importantly, make sure that this is done from a safe computer and make sure to remove the virus first.
More tips you can find on our forums, where you can also asks any questions about your ransomware problem.
