BrLock Ransomware

The BrLock Ransomware is a Trojan that locks the Windows User Interface and demands a ransom payment for restoring your access to the infected computer. Using any standard security techniques noted in this article can help you reboot your PC without also loading the BrLock Ransomware's screen-locking attack, after which you may remove the BrLock Ransomware through all of the usual anti-malware strategies.

Budget Threat for Small-Time Campaigns

Although it may be the threatening software targeting corporate entities with thousands of dollars in damages at the forefront of news headlines, smaller, less expensive Trojans may be equally capable of damaging an average PC. The campaign of deployment for the BrLock Ransomware was first seen in April of this year and uses geolocation distribution techniques targeting PC users within Russian borders. This behavior is semi-rare but not unknown, and resembles past campaigns like the one for the AMBA Ransomware, but with an extra layer of social engineering tailoring.

After being installed through common infection vectors, such as disguised social links or torrents, the BrLock Ransomware launches a pop-up interface. The BrLock Ransomware uses the window for blocking the rest of the user's desktop and Windows UI, but, most crucially, for displaying its system-ransoming demands. The BrLock Ransomware asks for an up-front one thousand Ruble payment to unlock Windows. Besides the cheapness of its ransom, the BrLock Ransomware also differs from usual ransomware campaigns by avoiding the more internationally applicable Bitcoin currency and not implementing any form of bartering to adjust its ransom conditionally.

The BrLock Ransomware is a Trojan with limited scope, but it still can block your access to Windows and keep your computer locked down for an indefinite period. PC users with no extra security reasons or education may be tempted to pay the BrLock Ransomware's fee, which, as malware experts always stress, doesn't promise a guaranteed resolution of the Trojan's attack.

A Straightforward Unlocking of a Cheap Computer Lockdown

Readers may note that malware experts find no significant attack features from the BrLock Ransomware, besides its feature of locking the screen and loading an extortion message. No additional attacks typical of Trojan ransom campaigns, such as data encryption or file deletion, have any current associations with the BrLock Ransomware. Once you disinfect your PC, no additional recovery steps should be required to resume normal usage without any long-term loss of data.

Even Trojans without any screen-locking mechanisms should be disabled before you attempt to remove them. First, reboot your PC. Tap F8 during the boot process until you see the Advanced Startup Options screen. Choose Safe Mode and continue loading Windows, with the BrLock Ransomware and its lock-screen disabled. As an alternative, malware experts also recommend keeping recovery boot-up installations on USB devices, which can bypass any threat that might start on the infected copy of Windows automatically.

The BrLock Ransomware is several months old, at this article's time of writing, and should be identifiable by most up-to-date anti-malware products. Let these programs scan your entire computer to remove the BrLock Ransomware, as well as other threats that could install it. While the BrLock Ransomware's ransom is among the cheapest in its industry, keeping proper PC security tools is, as usual, even cheaper than any demands its con artists could make.