Extortion viruses are the worst cyber infections that you can come across these days. All extortion viruses or as they are also called ransomware are designed with the same principle – to slip into your system not noticed, and encrypt your files, in order to demand ransom for the recovery key.
If you suddenly find your files are renamed and have a strange extension like .lukitus or another unknown file extension, you are unlucky - you encountered a crypto virus. You will also find a message with the offer to pay for the unlocking of your files. Sometimes it can be a browser window with text, sometimes a text document located on the desktop or in each folder with files. Such ransom notes can be translated into several languages other than English and contain all the requirements and instruction provided by the cyber criminals on how to send the payment.
Why is ransomware so dangerous? The virus will find all your files, including images, videos, music, documents and will carry out the encryption procedure with them. Files of any format will be encrypted. Nothing will protect them.
The procedure for changing the file name or deleting the .lukitus or another file extension will not return access to the files. To do this, they need to be decrypted using a private key. To get this key you need to fulfill all the conditions of extortionists. But ask yourself the question: Can you trust the attackers who infected your computer? Of course not, remember, the rules of the game are not in your favor initially.
It would seem easier to just pay and get rid of such a virus once and for all, but it is not actually the way out. Regardless of the requirements of the virus, do not follow them - it will result in a double blow for you. Your locked files are unlikely to get recovered. Do not send money to unlock the files. Otherwise, besides the files, you will lose money.
You may try and restore files yourself. Follow simple tips in this guide and hopefully, you can remove the ransomware and get your files back.
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