Cybersecurity: How To Remove Ransomware From Your Phone

Having explained how Android Nougat has received additional features to combat the growing menace of ransomware and how you can protect against the threat by following a few simple steps, this writeup will explain how to remove ransomware from your phone if you’ve accidentally installed it.

Ransomware virus has been around for more than a decade and with the boom in the smartphone tech, its gradual shift to menacing handheld devices was inevitable.

Tech software companies, including Android OS makers Google, have been relentlessly updating their security features to counter new forms of attacks and have been able to keep ransomware at bay — mostly.

But sometimes due to loopholes in software algorithm or a user’s carelessness, devices do get infected by ransomware. Fret not as panicking won’t help either, rather do one of the following two things or both of them to remove ransomware from your phone.

Boot Your Device in Safe Mode

Booting a phone in safe mode, Credit: Guidnig Tech

 

Rebooting your device in the safe mode ensures that no third party apps are running on the device and only stock software that the device came preloaded with loads.

Since the ransomware will be present on a third party app, safe mode will protect your device from it for the time being — preventing the app from running and accessing any part of the device.

Try uninstalling the malicious app in the safe mode and then reboot your device, this should solve the problem. However, if you can not boot into the safe mode or are unsuccessful in uninstalling the ransomware then factory resetting your device is the alternative.

Factory Reset Your Device

Factory resetting your device, also known as a hard reset, can be done by switching off your device and entering the recovery mode — the android robot will sport a red exclamation mark in this mode.

Factory reset basically formats your device, wiping all the additional data on the device except for the original software it was shipped with.

It is always recommended to keep a backup of the data on your device. Doing so will ensure that you don’t have to think twice before hitting the factory reset button to remove malicious ransomware app from your device.

Factory resetting differs for some manufacturers, and it’s recommended you check with your manufacturer before performing a factory reset or just follow these simple steps to perform a factory reset in recovery mode.

Culled from: Guiding Tech