'.lckd File Extension' Ransomware

The '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that can encrypt documents, images, sound files, and other media so that it keeps them from opening. This threat's payload also provides various, ransom demand-delivering notices, including a wallpaper-hijacking feature and a pop-up. Have your anti-malware products remove the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware on sight, and store your backups securely for any recovery purposes you might require.

A Windows Login or a Windows Trojan

Recently, malware analysts identified a working sample of a threat that includes both file-locking behavior and symptoms of a data-ransoming campaign. This Trojan, the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware, offers no evidence implying that it's part of a family like the RaaS-profiting Globe Ransomware or the Crysis Ransomware teams but conducts attacks in a very similar way. Its current disguises imply that the threat actors are introducing the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware to new systems via methods other than direct downloads by its victims.

The '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware's executable bears the name of a Windows component, 'winlogon.exe,' and uses a Registry Mutex as part of its standard installation routine. The threat actors may be installing the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware manually, after using RDP exploits for hacking into a network or could trick a user into doing so by exposing them to corrupted documents, e-mail attachments, etc. Few anti-malware services are identifying the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware accurately since this threat is relatively new.

Some file-locking Trojans target a small subset of data in relevant locations, such as the desktop. The '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware does the opposite: it sweeps through multiple drives, including letters M through Y, and encrypts all non-essential data it finds, such as documents or pictures. The encryption routine blocks these files from opening and lets the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware implement its ransom demands, which it drops in a pop-up and desktop wallpaper formats.

Keeping a Schedule that's not to a Trojan's Preferences

The '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware uses several social engineering strategies for soliciting its ransoms from any victims, including imposing a time-based limit, warning the user about a future increase in the cost of the decryption code, and offering limited, free unlocking services in non-specific circumstances. Malware experts, as per the usual, recommend against the paying of the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware's Bitcoin-based price, which endangers the user with impoverishing themselves without restoring any files. Secure backups are the most dependable solution for recovering any media, but the cyber-security sector also offers some decryption applications free for countering some file-locker Trojans' campaigns.

Because most users aren't likely of downloading a default Windows component, intentionally, the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware is more probably a threat that its authors are circulating by methods using a third-party. This intermediary may be an exploit kit, which runs in the user's browser and exploits vulnerabilities like outdated JavaScript, or an e-mail attachment that carries a Trojan downloader like Zlob. Update your anti-malware solutions for deleting the '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware or any related threats before their attacks can lock any media.

The '.lckd File Extension' Ransomware uses a handful of tactics for manipulating the psychology of anyone it attacks. Knowing these tricks beforehand, and understanding their layers of deception and risk, makes it that much easier to protect your files from Trojans like this one.