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'SimpleLocker' Ransomware

Posted: August 13, 2015

The 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware is a file encryptor that, after compromising your machine, modifies your files to block them until you've paid a ransom. The 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware especially has been known for targeting Android devices but displays all of the standard features, including the fraudulent warning messages of other types of ransom threats. Even paying the illicit fine may not restore your files, and malware researchers advise you to use secure backup strategies in conjunction with anti-malware tools that can delete the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware.

A New Problem with Your Phone Bill

While malware researchers typically look at ransomware campaigns focusing on personal computers, PCs aren't the only systems that may be targeted, compromised and even blocked by threatening software. The 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware, like the banking Trojan Svpeng or the UNRECOM RAT, is a Trojan that infects Android-based machines. Also like those two threats, the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware's had much of its activity surfacing in 2014, although the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware still is in general circulation and able to attack modern systems.

The 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware attacks Android phones in much the same way as other file encryptors attack PCs: by searchThe 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware's pop-up warning may tailor itself to your regional language, particularly for Eastern Europeans, and may claim that your phone is being locked due to its involvement with illegal pornographic activities. Like prior ransomware campaigns, the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware is not affiliated with any law enforcement branch or government and delivers its warning message without any regard for your phone activities.

Unlike most ransomware that malware researchers have examined, the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware may request a surprisingly small sum (twenty USD, for example) to ransom your files. However, there is, as always, no certainty of the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware's perpetrators reversing their attack on your files and restoring the data to its old format.

Hanging Up on the Simplest of Ransomware

Some versions of the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware may provide a brief window of opportunity for accessing your device before their automatic pop-ups load. Particularly fast Android owners may use this interval to uninstall the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware with whatever compatible brand of anti-malware product they can access sufficiently quickly. However, removing the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware from your machine has no direct effect on any files that have been targeted and encrypted. These files will remain unusable until they've gone through a decryption process.

Most types of ransomware may make the above decryption process difficult or effectively impossible to determine, but the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware includes significant flaws in its attacks. The presence of both the type of encryption technique in use and the relevant password in the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware's body has allowed third-party developers to create decryption tools that are specific to the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware. Malware researchers also highly stress the reliability of cloud storage and removable backup devices as easy ways of hindering the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware. These simple, free security tactics can easily prevent the 'SimpleLocker' Ransomware, and threats like it, from causing any permanent harm to your files.

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