How to remove Lightning ransomware

Lightning ransomware is a new version of a decryptable Everbe 2.0 ransomware

Lightning ransomware is a cryptovirus that uses AES and DES encryption methods to encode your data and locks files using .lightning marker. This is almost identical to previous Everbe 2.0 ransomware versions that hail from Everbe virus. Other variants have decryption tools, but there is no guarantee that it may also work for the particular .lightning file extension virus. The marker also includes a contact email and once encrypted, your data is renamed. For example, if you have Birthday.jpg on the system after ransomware encryption, it looks Birthday.jpg.[youhaveonechance@cock.li].lightning. When ransomware is done with this process, your data becomes useless, and the only solution is decryption. However, we don't recommend paying the ransom for the decryption key because hackers cannot be trusted.

Since this is a cryptovirus, Lightning ransomware developers have one purpose – getting money from their victims. The main purpose is data encryption because hackers can demand payment for the decryption tool. However, there is no guarantee that decryption is going to happen. There is little to no chance that paying victims can get their files back.^[1]

Lightning ransomware virus infiltrates the system without your knowledge, and you cannot notice the main threat until it starts to encode your data and you encounter the change of performance and speed. Ransomware runs in the background and makes additional changes before it moves on to file encryption. 

The encryption process is the main thing people get scared but the first thing Lightning ransomware does on the system is changing the registry entries and altering parts of the system. These changes initially are made to ensure that malicious payload is launched more frequently.

Lightning ransomware employs AES or DES encryption algorithm and changes the original code of a file to make it useless. This is a relatively quick and dangerous process^[2] that ends up in a generation of the ransom note. !=How_to_decrypt_files=!.txt gets placed on every folder that contains encoded files and states:

Hello ! All your files have been encrypted !
Don’t worry , we can help tou to return all of your files .
If you want to know price for decryptor , write to our email – youhaveonechance@cock.li
In the subject write – id-.

Every 7 days price doubles.
If within 24 hours we didn’t answer you , write to our backup mail – youhaveonechance@420blaze.it .

Because of the various system changes, Lightning ransomware removal becomes fairly difficult. All those changes need to be reverted if you want to use the device normally again. The best solution is a full system scan with anti-malware programs like FortectIntego. 

You need to remove Lightning ransomware and double-check if the system is malware-free. Then, you can plug in the external device with file backups or use alternative data recovery methods. If you have no backups on cloud services or external devices, experts^[3] recommend relying on file recovery software. We have a few suggestions below. 

Spam email attachments distribute malicious payload

The main ransomware spreading method is spam email campaigns because this is a method that allows spreading payload all over the world via the internet. Spam email attachments come in various forms of files, but the main format is MS Word, Excel documents or PDF files filled with macros. 

Documents contain malicious payload dropper or direct ransomware threat that gets installed on the device immediately when the file is downloaded and opened on the device. Unfortunately, these emails come disguised as legitimate notifications from services or companies like PayPal, eBay or FedEx, and people tend to open attachments without thinking.

However, Order information, Financial details or Invoices do not come out of anywhere. Delete emails from companies you do not use or senders you have no idea about. Also, you can check the purpose of the file or link before downloading on the machine. 

Terminate Lightning ransomware and get rid of all related programs

The best tip we can give you is to remove Lightning ransomware instead of paying the ransom and restoring data from a backup when the system is thoroughly cleaned. You can do so with anti-malware tools like FortectIntego, SpyHunterCombo Cleaner, or MalwarebytesMalwarebytes. A full system scan detects all possible intruders and deletes them from the PC completely.

Lightning ransomware removal may be affected by the virus itself because it disables some of the system features or program functions. You can enter the Safe Mode before the system scan and delete the virus this way. Also, you may need to perform additional cleaning on the machine to get rid of virus damage.