LKS Ransomware (.lks Files) — How to remove virus?

The Lks virus belongs to the Phobos ransomware family. Harmful software of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, text files, excel sheets, audio files, videos, etc) and appends its extra extension to every file, leaving the info.txt files in each directory with the encrypted files.

What is Lks virus?

☝️ A strictly correct description for the Lks would be “a Phobos family ransomware-type infection”.

The renaming will be done by this pattern: id-*******.[email address].LKS. In the course of encryption, a file entitled, for example, “report.docx” will be turned into “report.docx.id-bIC1770KL.[[email protected]].LKS”.

In every folder that contains the encrypted files, a info.txt text file will be found. It is a ransom money memo. It contains information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the racketeers. You can obtain this decryptor after contacting [email protected] via email. That is pretty much the scheme of the malefaction.

Lks outline:

In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Lks looks like. Each filename has the “.id-*******.[email address].LKS” extension added to it.

How did my machine catch Lks ransomware?

There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.

Nowadays, there are three most popular methods for tamperers to have ransomware acting in your system. These are email spam, Trojan introduction and peer-to-peer file transfer.

If you open your mailbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services companies, postal agencies like FedEx, web-access providers, and whatnot, but whose “from” field is strange to you, be wary of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a ransomware item attached to them. So it is even riskier to open any attachments that come with emails like these.

As for the peer networks like torrents or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never guess what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded files with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How to remove the Lks virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your files, the Lks virus will probably install the Azorult Spyware on your computer to get access to credentials to various accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Sometimes racketeers would decrypt few of your files to prove that they do have the decryption program. As Lks virus is a relatively new ransomware, anti-malware engineers have not yet found a way to reverse its work. Nevertheless, the decoding tools are constantly updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon be available.

Of course, if the tamperers do the job of encoding someone’s essential files, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. Despite that, paying to racketeers does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your data back. It is still dangerous. After receiving the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports about malefactors simply disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The optimal safety measure against ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external drive. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most crucial thing could be that file you were working upon when it all happened. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your drives with the anti-malware utility after the OS is rolled back.

Lks is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. For instance, Ccps, Rtgf, Iips, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Lks are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: documents become blocked, their extensions altered, ransom notes emerge in each folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky victims were able to decrypt the blocked files with the help of the free software provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the hackers accidentally send the decryption code to the victims in the ransom note. Such an epic fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But naturally, one should never expect such a chance. Remember, ransomware is a tamperers’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.

How do I avert ransomware infection?

Lks ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.

You can armour your PC from ransomware infiltration taking several easy steps:

• Never open any letters from unknown senders with strange addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (can you win in a money prize draw without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are expecting, scrutinize all elements of the suspicious email with caution. A fake email will always contain mistakes.
• Never use cracked or untrusted programs. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as a part of cracked software, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But potentially dangerous programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. Try searching for information about this program on the anti-malware forums, but the best way is not to use such software.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft³

Download Removal Tool.

Run the setup file.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

Click on “Clean Now”.

FAQ

🤔 Can I somehow access “.id-*******.[email address].LKS” files?

Unfortunately, no. You need to decipher the “.id-*******.[email address].LKS” files first. Then you will be able to open them.

🤔 I really need to decrypt those “.id-*******.[email address].LKS” files ASAP. How can I do that?

Hopefully, you have made a copy of those important files. In case you haven’t, there is still a chance that you do have a Restore Point from some time ago to roll back the whole system to the moment when it had no virus yet, but already had your files. All other solutions require time.

🤔 What should I do if the Lks virus has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Some of the encrypted files can be located elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your important files via email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared images or videos with your friends or relatives. Simply ask them to post those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try doing it again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud storage might have all those files too.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, mobile, flash memory, etc.

HINT: You can use data recovery programs⁵ to get your lost data back since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you kill the ransomware itself with an anti-malware program.

Also, you can contact the following governmental fraud and scam sites to report this attack:

• In the United States: On Guard Online;
• In Canada: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre;
• In the United Kingdom: Action Fraud;
• In Australia: SCAMwatch;
• In New Zealand: Consumer Affairs Scams;
• In France: Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information;
• In Germany: Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik;
• In Ireland: An Garda Síochána;

To report the attack, you can contact local executive boards. For instance, if you live in USA, you can have a talk with FBI Local field office, IC3 or Secret Service.

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