Locked By a.k Hacker Ransomware

Locked By a.k Hacker Ransomware might show a message demanding to pay the malware’s creators one Bitcoin for unlocking the system. Thus, unlike other ransomware applications, it does not encrypt user’s data to take it as a hostage and asks for a ransom for just unblocking the user’s screen. However, even though the usual combinations you could perform with a keyboard may not work, there is still another way to unlock the screen without paying anything. Therefore, we advise users to pay no attention to the hacker’s demands and get back the PC’s control by following the instructions prepared by our specialists. These steps will explain how to unlock the screen and erase Locked By a.k Hacker Ransomware manually. The instructions are placed just below the text, although before you slide down, we encourage you to read our article first and find out more about this malicious application.

Our researchers who tested Locked By a.k Hacker Ransomware report that the threat should be spread with harmful files, for example, fake updates, malicious setup files, suspicious email attachments, and so on. Clearly, any recently downloaded file might be the reason why the system got infected. If malware is something you would like to avoid in the future, we urge you to be more cautious the next time. It would be best to keep away from unreliable file-sharing web pages or other sites that could contain potential threats. Also, we recommend being extra cautious with Spam emails or any other emails with attachments coming from unknown sources. Whenever you have any suspicion, you should scan downloaded data with a trustworthy antimalware tool. Given it is fully updated, it might be able to recognize malicious data and warn its user about it.

It seems Locked By a.k Hacker Ransomware does not install itself on the system as it runs from the directory the user downloaded and launched it. To block user’s screen, the malware places a full-size window covering the screen and making you unable to access it. The displayed window provides a message written in rather poor English language. It explains the system was locked by a person who calls himself a.k Hacker and instructs the user to pay one Bitcoin which is approximately 2.602 US dollars at the moment of writing. Such sum looks enormous since even most of ransomware applications that damage users’ data in a way it cannot often be recovered ask for much smaller amounts.

The ransom note does not say how the screen is supposed to be unlocked after making the payment. On the other hand, it provides an email address to contact Locked By a.k Hacker Ransomware’s creators and a box where you could insert text, so we believe the hackers are lettings their victims understand they would send a password via email that the user could type in and unlock the screen. Of course, we are not suggesting this is something you should do as it would be a waste of money. Instead of risking your savings you can delete the malicious application and so unlock the screen on your own without paying thousands of dollars to these cyber criminals.

As we explained earlier, Locked By a.k Hacker Ransomware could have entered the system with some malicious file you downloaded unknowingly, so to get rid of the infection you would have to find and erase this file. To complete this task, you should restart the system in Safe Mode with Networking since Safe Mode is the only way to unblock the screen. Then, you can either follow the rest of the instructions and remove the data belonging to the threat manually or install a reliable antimalware tool. If you pick the second option, you would only need to perform a system scan and click the deletion button that should be provided right after the scan. Also, users who require further assistance could leave us a message below or contact us through social media.

Restart your system in Safe Mode with Networking

Windows 8/Windows 10

1. Tap Win+I for Windows 8 or open Start menu for Windows 10.
2. Press the Power button.
3. Click and hold Shift then click Restart.
4. Pick Troubleshoot and choose Advanced Options.
5. Go to Startup Settings and click Restart.
6. Press F5 and restart the PC.

Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7

1. Navigate to Start, select Shutdown options and pick Restart.
2. Press and hold F8 when the PC starts restarting.
3. Mark Safe Mode with Networking.
4. Select Enter and log on to the computer.

Eliminate Locked By a.k Hacker Ransomware

1. Press Win+E.
2. Navigate to the provided paths:
   %TEMP%
   %USERPROFILE%\desktop
   %USERPROFILE%\downloads
3. Search for the malicious file you may have opened at the time the system got infected.
4. Right-click this suspicious file and press Delete.
5. Exit File Explorer.
6. Empty Recycle bin.
7. Reboot the system.