How to remove KillSwitch ransomware virus

KillSwitch ransomware has no killswitch and is in development mode at the moment

KillSwitch virus is a hazardous ransomware created by someone who was probably inspired by the methods used by WannaCry ransomware. The authors of the ransomware named the executive file as CryptoKill.exe, probably to confuse the victims and make them search for information about CryptoKill virus online. The ransomware appears to be in development mode at the moment, meaning that the author of it is still testing and modifying this virus. At the moment, the virus only targets %USERPROFILE%\Documents\test\ folder (to encrypt files stored on it); however, this function can be easily changed to start encrypting all system folders. The virus is set to add .switch extensions to corrupted files. Once the virus finishes the encryption task, it then launches a red message that says:

Attention!
Your files has been encrypted by KillSwitch
KillSwitch is a new kind of cryptography malware, unlike the most of other ones utilizing encryption like ransomware…
All of your files are encrypted with AES-256 ciphers. Unlocking of your files is not possible because KillSwitch generates unique one-way encryption keys without keys used to decrypt.
Your only option would be to attempt to break the encryption, but this is very hard since AES246 is a strong cipher algorithm.

To begin with, statements provided in this message are utter nonsense and can only scare an inexperienced computer user. The described virus is a typical ransomware just like the others, just way less sophisticated. The ransomware was developed by an amateur programmer, and while at the moment it is not distributed on a global scale, you should take all possible ransomware prevention methods because in case your computer gets hit with more advanced ransomware such as Cerber^[1], it won’t be possible to restore your files. If your files were corrupted by an updated variant of the described malware, remove KillSwitch ransomware using FortectIntego or MalwarebytesMalwarebytes software and use data backup to restore encrypted files.

Distribution of file-encrypting viruses

Ransomware viruses are mostly distributed via malicious spam, infected ad networks or RDP^[2]. Using an up-to-date anti-malware can prevent attackers from corrupting your files; however, it is important to be aware of ransomware and its distribution methods so that you could deflect malicious attempts to infect your system. We suggest you stay away from questionable messages that fall into your Inbox or Spam folder. Even if the email looks like its sent from a trustworthy person, do not open its attachments or links added to the message until you inspect sender’s email and realize that it is a real/trustworthy one. Remember that no legitimate companies allow their employees send emails from personal emails. On top of that, avoid visiting suspicious websites, especially those that provide adult/gambling content or illegal software download links.

Remove KillSwitch ransomware with ease

You can easily remove KillSwitch virus with the help of anti-malware software. However, to launch it, you will need to run your computer in Safe Mode with Networking. We have provided an easy-to-follow removal tutorial for those who have never tried to reboot PC in the aforementioned mode or never had a confrontation with malware. We do not recommend you to try to complete KillSwitch removal manually because ransomware is not a typical program and it can be very hard to remove all of its components at the same time.