Lalo Ransomware - How to remove

Lalo infects PCs to extort the victims of money (up to $980). Lalo does this by encrypting the files on the infected computer, making them impossible to open or read. And there’s no simple way to fix those broken files. Not to mention, Lalo brings a few other problems, too. It’s extremely dangerous to PC users.

Lalo is called that because it renamed the encrypted files by adding “.lalo” as a second extension. Lalo is a new version of Djvu ransomware, a known threat that’s existed for a couple of years now.

In short about Lalo ransomware:

Classification	Ransomware, trojan.
What Lalo ransomware does	Breaks security software, locks user files, may install an adware trojan.
How to fix the files	Restore from backup, use the free decrypter, repair files, use data recovery.
How to remove Lalo	Unblock security sites by repairing the hosts file, use an antivirus application (like Spyhunter) to scan your computer and remove malware, install the needed software updates and secure your browsing.

What is Lalo ransomware

File locker

Lalo is a malicious program that uses cryptography to break user-created files. Cryptography is great for providing online privacy. We can also use it to password-protect files.

Lalo password-protects your files and then hides away the key.

Here’s what Lalo does to the infected computer:

• gets downloaded by the infected file (usually a pirated program, a cracking tool, etc.),
• Lalo breaks the antivirus program by deleting its updates,
• then it blocks a bunch of security websites by adding illegitimate entries to the hosts file,
• it may also install an adware trojan (Azorult),
• then Lalo breaks files by encrypting them,
• it renames those files by adding “.lalo” as the second extension,
• creates a bunch of ransom notes (called _readme.txt) to demand money from the victim.

This results in many (but often not all) user files being renamed to have “.lalo” at the end of their names. You may also get pop-up ads on your screen and random browser redirects.

How to restore Lalo files

If you have file backups, then you only need to remove Lalo, delete the encrypted files, and then replace them with the files from your backup. Unfortunately, not everyone has file backups.

Decryption

Only Lalo’s developers have the decryption keys necessary to unlock the files. And, with our modern technology, there’s no way to guess or brute-force the decryption keys. Unfortunately, cryptography is just that good.

If you had enough money and were willing to contact the extortionists, you would need to be very careful. If the people behind Lalo get their hands on your personal information, they will abuse that. If they forget to send you the decryption key, or send the wrong one, you can’t get your money back. If those people decide you’re an easy target, they’ll target you for more scams. It’s very dangerous and risky.

Emsisoft has released a decryptor for Djvu ransomware. It can decrypt files if you have the decryption key. It’s possible that Lalo used the offline decryption key on your files, which happens to be the same for all victims. Run the Emsisoft decryptor on your files and it will tell you if you can hope for free decryption.

Repairing files

Next, you may be able to repair some of the bigger files, or have someone repair them for you. Here is a blog post that instructs on how to repair a JPEG. You can try opening audio, archive, video files, and some of the data should still be fine. The smaller files, like documents, are not recoverable, though. That’s because Lalo encrypts a set amount of data in each file. The bigger the file is, the more of it remains unencrypted. Small files are almost entirely encrypted.

Other methods

Finally, you may be able to recover some data from your computer by using the methods described in the last section of this post, such as data recovery and shadow volume copies.

Just be careful of scammers – anyone who says that they can fix your files and demand payment upfront. There’s no magical way to fix the files that Lalo has broken. Anyone who makes unrealistic promises might be just an opportunistic scammer.

How it spreads

Lalo tends to spread on pirating sites. It gets uploaded as a crack, an unlocked installer, or another “free” version of some expensive program. As such, Lalo is especially dangerous to those who pirate software.

It’s also possible for Lalo to be uploaded on original fake download sites, and not just on pirating websites.

Either way, Lalo is promoted very deceptively. The infected file should be detected as malicious if it were scanned with an antivirus program. However, pirates often expect their booty to be detected by antivirus apps anyway (modified apps are usually flagged as malware), so they might not bother with a scan.

This makes it possible for Lalo and other Djvu ransomware, such as Mpaj, Jope, and Mado, to spread to thousands of computers all across the globe.

How to remove Lalo

After fixing your hosts file, use an antivirus program to scan your computer and remove all the detected malware and malicious files. Including the file that originally infected the computer. If you don’t delete it, you may get your computer reinfected.

The other issue is with Azorult: if the antivirus scan found it on your computer, you should set new passwords for your online accounts. Unless you use a password manager, some of your passwords may be stored in your web browser, and could have been stolen by the trojan. Also, make sure that 2-step verification is on where possible.

Important -- edit the hosts file to unblock security websites

TL DR : The hosts file is edited to block security sites Before the virus can be removed, it's necessary to fix the hosts file (the file which controls which addresses connect to which IPs). That is the reason the majority of security websites is inaccessible when infected with this particular parasite. This infection edits this file to stop certain websites, including anti-malware download sites, from being accessed from the infected computer, making browsers return the "This site can't be reached" error. Luckily, it's trivial to fix the file and remove the edits that were made to it.

Find and edit the hosts file

The hosts file can be found on C:/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc/hosts. If you don't see it, change the settings to see hidden files.

1. In the Start Menu, search for Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, find Appearance and Personalization.
3. Select Folder Options.
4. Open the View tab.
5. Open Advanced settings.
6. Select "Show hidden files...".
7. Select OK.

Open this file with administrator privileges.

1. Open the Start Menu and enter "notepad".
2. When Notepad shows up in the result, right-click on it.
3. In the menu, choose "Run as administrator"
4. File->Open and browse for the hosts file.

The hosts file should look like this: Delete additional lines that they connect various domain names to the wrong IP address. Save the file.

Download and run the antivirus program

After that, download antivirus programs and use them to remove the ransomware, the trojan, and other malware. Spyhunter (https://www.2-viruses.com/reviews/spyhunter/dwnld/).

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to recover Lalo Ransomware encrypted files and remove the virus

Step 1. Restore system into last known good state using system restore

1. Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt:

for Windows 7 / Vista/ XP

• Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
• Press F8 key repeatedly until Advanced Boot Options window appears.
• Choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

for Windows 8 / 10

• Press Power at Windows login screen. Then press and hold Shift key and click Restart.
• Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings and click Restart.
• When it loads, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list of Startup Settings.

 

2.Restore System files and settings.

• When Command Prompt mode loads, enter cd restore and press Enter.
• Then enter rstrui.exe and press Enter again.
• Click “Next” in the windows that appeared.
• Select one of the Restore Points that are available before Lalo has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Lalo Ransomware

After restoring your system, it is recommended to scan your computer with an anti-malware program, like Spyhunter and remove all malicious files related to Lalo. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Lalo Ransomware affected files using Shadow Volume Copies

If you do not use System Restore option on your operating system, there is a chance to use shadow copy snapshots. They store copies of your files that point of time when the system restore snapshot was created. Usually Lalo tries to delete all possible Shadow Volume Copies, so this methods may not work on all computers. However, it may fail to do so. Shadow Volume Copies are only available with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. There are two ways to retrieve your files via Shadow Volume Copy. You can do it using native Windows Previous Versions or via Shadow Explorer. a) Native Windows Previous Versions Right-click on an encrypted file and select Properties → Previous versions tab. Now you will see all available copies of that particular file and the time when it was stored in a Shadow Volume Copy. Choose the version of the file you want to retrieve and click Copy if you want to save it to some directory of your own, or Restore if you want to replace existing, encrypted file. If you want to see the content of file first, just click Open.

b) Shadow Explorer It is a program that can be found online for free. You can download either a full or a portable version of Shadow Explorer. Open the program. On the left top corner select the drive where the file you are looking for is a stored. You will see all folders on that drive. To retrieve a whole folder, right-click on it and select “Export”. Then choose where you want it to be stored.

Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover Lalo Ransomware encrypted files

There are several data recovery programs that might recover encrypted files as well. This does not work in all cases but you can try this:

• We suggest using another PC and connect the infected hard drive as slave. It is still possible to do this on infected PC though.
• Download a data recovery program.
• Install and scan for recently deleted files.

Note: In many cases it is impossible to restore data files affected by modern ransomware. Thus I recommend using decent cloud backup software as precaution. We recommend checking out Carbonite, BackBlaze, CrashPlan or Mozy Home.