LOMIAT Ransomware (.LOMIAT File) — Removal Guide

The Lomiat virus falls under the Xorist ransomware family. Malware of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (photos, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, leaving the HOW TO DECRYPT FILES.txt files in each folder with the encrypted files.

What is known about the Lomiatvirus?

☝️ A strictly accurate designation for the Lomiat is “a Xorist family ransomware-type malicious agent”.

Lomiat appends its own .LoMiAt extension to every file’s title. For example, a file named “photo.jpg” will be renamed to “photo.jpg.LoMiAt”. Just like the Excel file with the name “table.xlsx” will be altered to “table.xlsx.LoMiAt”, and so on.

In each directory containing the encrypted files, a HOW TO DECRYPT FILES.txt file will appear. It is a ransom money note. It contains information about the ways of paying the ransom and some other information. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the racketeers. That is basically the scheme of the crime.

Lomiat abstract:

In the screenshot below, you can see what a folder with files encrypted by the Lomiat looks like. Each filename has the “.LoMiAt” extension appended to it.

How did my machine catch Lomiat ransomware?

There is a huge number of possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

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

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

As for the peer file transfer protocols like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never know what you download until you get it. Our suggestion is that you use trustworthy websites. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the anti-malware utility as soon as the downloading is done.

How do I get rid of the Lomiat virus?

It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your data, the Lomiat virus will most likely install the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can derive your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling cardfile.

Often racketeers would decode several of your files to prove that they do have the decryption program. As Lomiat virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware designers have not yet found a method to undo its work. Nevertheless, the decryption instruments are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.

Of course, if the criminals do the job of encrypting victim’s essential files, the desperate person will probably fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying a ransom does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your data back. It is still risky. After obtaining the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports of hackers just vanishing after getting the ransom without even writing back.

The optimal safety measure against ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud storage or at least on an external disk. Of course, that might be not enough. Your most important thing could be that one you were working on when it all happened. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also wise to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the OS is rolled back.

Lomiat is not the only ransomware of its kind, since there are other specimens of ransomware out there that act in the same manner. Examples of those are Bbyy, Bbzz, Bnrs, and some others. The two main differences between them and the Lomiat are the ransom amount and the encoding method. The rest is the same: files become encoded, their extensions changed, ransom notes are found in every directory containing encrypted files.

Some fortunate users were able to decode the arrested files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-ransomware specialists. Sometimes the racketeers accidentally send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ instrument to pull the money out of their victims.

How сan I avoid ransomware attack?

Lomiat ransomware has no superpower, so as any similar malware.

You can defend your computer from ransomware attack taking three easy steps:

• Ignore any letters from unknown mailers with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (can you win in a lottery without participating in it?). In case the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the questionable letter with caution. A hoax email will always contain a mistake.
• Never use cracked or unknown programs. Trojan viruses are often spreaded as a part of cracked products, most likely as a “patch” to prevent the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to tell from trustworthy software, because trojans may also have the functionality you need. You can try searching for information on this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution 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”.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 How can I open “.LoMiAt” files?Is it possible to open“.LoMiAt” files?

There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.LoMiAt” files are decrypted.

🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?

It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. 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 actions should I take if the Lomiat ransomware has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.

🤔 And what should I do now?

Some of the encrypted files can be found elsewhere.

• If you exchanged your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Just ask them to give those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
• Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud storage might have all those files as well.
• Maybe you still have the needed files on your old PC, a laptop, phone, external storage, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery programs⁵ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, deleting the original 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 virus with an antivirus program.

Also, you can contact the following official 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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