--- title: "Are You Ready To Meet The Threat Of Locky Ransomware? | DuoCircle" description: "Locky is a ransomware variant that was first reported in 2016. The most common version of the attack arrives as an attachment to an email." image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png" canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/are-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware/" --- Quick Answer Locky is a ransomware variant first seen in 2016, delivered as an unreadable email attachment that prompts the user to enable macros. The macro saves Locky to disk, encrypts Office files, videos, and images, and spreads to mapped network shares. Recovery requires Tor and a dark-web payment page. Share [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fare-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware%2F "Share on LinkedIn") [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Are%20You%20Ready%20To%20Meet%20The%20Threat%20Of%20Locky%20Ransomware%3F&url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fare-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware%2F "Share on X/Twitter") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fare-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware%2F "Share on Facebook") [ ](https://reddit.com/submit?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fare-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware%2F&title=Are%20You%20Ready%20To%20Meet%20The%20Threat%20Of%20Locky%20Ransomware%3F "Share on Reddit") [ ](mailto:?subject=Are%20You%20Ready%20To%20Meet%20The%20Threat%20Of%20Locky%20Ransomware%3F&body=Check out this article: undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fare-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware%2F "Share via Email") ![Threat](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/08/hosted-email-server-4236.jpg) _**Locky** is a [ransomware](/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) variant that was first reported in 2016._ The most common version of the attack arrives as an attachment to an email. When opened, the attachment is mostly unreadable, except for a direction to the user to enable macros in order to make the content readable. If this is done however, an embedded macro in the “message” runs and saves the Locky virus to the user’s hard drive. After that, typically any Microsoft Office files, videos, and images on the hard drive are encrypted through the [office 365 phishing email](/phishing-protection/is-your-office-365-email-solution-prepared-for-phishing-threats/). The user is then informed that in order to decrypt the files, _they must first download the Tor browser, then navigate to a dark-web page in to receive further instructions._ Once Locky has gotten a foothold in your organization, the **effects can be devastating.** The virus not only encrypts files on the local computer; if there are shared drives on servers or other computers in the domain, it can encrypt files on them as well. Depending on the number of network shares involved and the accessibility of them to infected users, **Locky can cause mayhem across your entire organization.** The only defense against Locky and similar forms of ransomware is a two-pronged approach that combines effective [email phishing protection](/phishing-protection/the-threat-of-ransomware-is-real/) and threat protection technology with user education and training. DuoCircle’s Advanced Threat Defense offers unparalleled threat protection using a multi-layered approach to identify and stop threats before they can reach users and wreak havoc on your network. [![ anti phishing program ](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/08/SMTP-server-mail-0345.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/08/SMTP-server-mail-0345.jpg) ### With DuoCircle, Locky Has Met its Match! Email-borne attacks include ransomware, phishing, malware, and more, and they are becoming more common and more sophisticated every day. DuoCircle’s Advanced Threat Defense [protection from phishing](/phishing-protection/ransomware-attacks-your-organizations-ability-to-function/) pulls together all the tools your organization needs in a single integrated solution to prevent email phishing to protect and defend your employees from these threats. Using an intelligent classification engine, we detect and these threats in real-time and defend against them with the highest possible level of accuracy. With Advanced Threat Protection [anti phishing program](/phishing-protection/increased-sophistication-in-phishing-attacks-spells-disaster-for-unprotected-businesses/) from DuoCircle, ransomware attacks like Locky are detected and defeated. Every incoming and archived email is scanned, and suspicious attachments are identified using advanced threat detection. _Advanced Threat Defense offers end to end protection against threats, including the ever-increasing threat of ransomware._ DuoCircle’s Advanced Threat Defense is the best anti phishing software with a multi-layered approach to email threat protection that pulls all the features you need together in a single integrated solution to fight malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks. ### DuoCircle Protects You From Multiple Inbound Threats **Advanced Threat Defense from DuoCircle provides:** - Anti phishing [protection against phishing](/phishing-protection/the-threat-of-ransomware-is-real/) and from malware and zero-day attacks, with 100% availability. - Spam protection that eliminates 99% of all incoming spam with a false positive rate of less than one in ten thousand. - Unlimited inbound message volume - Protection against domain name spoofing - Blocking of malicious attachments with phishing filter - Real-time activity logs, with access to the email queue and click reporting - Smart Adaptive Quarantine, which puts the burden of sorting spam messages on the sender rather than the recipient. - **A thirty day backup queue**, 30 days of MX backup service included - Chat, email and phone support is available 24/7 ![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) Brad Slavin General Manager General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio. ## Secure your email infrastructure Protect, authenticate, and deliver. Contact our team to find the right solution. [Contact Sales](/contact/) [Explore Products](/products/) Share this article [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fare-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware%2F) [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Are%20You%20Ready%20To%20Meet%20The%20Threat%20Of%20Locky%20Ransomware%3F&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fare-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware%2F) [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fare-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware%2F) Copy Related Articles - [ ![AI-Generated Phishing](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2026/04/spf-record-4522.jpg) AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Phishing ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/) - [ ![spf-permerror-4555](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2023/05/spf-permerror-4555.jpg) 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/) - [ ![Email-Based Cyber-Attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2016/03/spf-record-tester-4455.jpg) 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/) - [ ![Email-based Ransomware Attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/02/email-smtp-service-7834.jpg) 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ## Related Articles [ Phishing 11m AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Apr 28, 2026 ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/)[ Phishing 5m 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting May 3, 2023 ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/)[ Phishing 4m 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Mar 29, 2016 ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/)[ Phishing 9m 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Feb 11, 2018 ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}],"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/company/duocircle","https://x.com/duocirclellc","https://www.facebook.com/duocirclellc","https://www.g2.com/products/phish-protection-by-duocircle/reviews","https://github.com/duocircle","https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/duocircle-llc"],"contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","url":"https://support.duocircle.com"},"knowsAbout":["Email Security","Email Authentication","SPF","DKIM","DMARC","Phishing Protection","Spam Filtering","SMTP Relay","Email Deliverability","Email Forwarding"]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]}} ``` ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"Are You Ready To Meet The Threat Of Locky Ransomware?","description":"Locky is a ransomware variant that was first reported in 2016. The most common version of the attack arrives as an attachment to an email.","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/are-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware/","datePublished":"2018-08-09T18:52:11.000Z","dateModified":"2025-05-19T13:08:24.000Z","dateCreated":"2018-08-09T18:52:11.000Z","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.duocircle.com/authors/brad-slavin/#person","name":"Brad Slavin","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/authors/brad-slavin/","jobTitle":"General Manager","description":"Brad Slavin runs DuoCircle, the company behind DMARC Report, AutoSPF, Phish Protection, and Mailhop. His focus is product strategy, customer relationships, and the commercial and compliance side of email authentication (DPAs, SLAs, enterprise procurement).","image":"https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg","knowsAbout":["Email Security Strategy","SaaS Product Management","Enterprise Compliance","Customer Success","Email Deliverability Business"],"worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradslavin"]},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/are-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware/"},"articleSection":"phishing-protection","keywords":"","wordCount":533,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/08/hosted-email-server-4236.jpg","caption":"Threat","width":900,"height":600},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".answer-block","h1"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Phishing"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Are You Ready To Meet The Threat Of Locky Ransomware?","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/are-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware/"}]}] ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Phishing","item":"https://www.duocircle.comundefined"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Are You Ready To Meet The Threat Of Locky Ransomware?","item":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/are-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware/"}]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"Are You Ready To Meet The Threat Of Locky Ransomware?","description":"Locky is a ransomware variant that was first reported in 2016. The most common version of the attack arrives as an attachment to an email.","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/are-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware/","datePublished":"2018-08-09T18:52:11.000Z","dateModified":"2025-05-19T13:08:24.000Z","dateCreated":"2018-08-09T18:52:11.000Z","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.duocircle.com/authors/brad-slavin/#person","name":"Brad Slavin","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/authors/brad-slavin/","jobTitle":"General Manager","description":"Brad Slavin runs DuoCircle, the company behind DMARC Report, AutoSPF, Phish Protection, and Mailhop. His focus is product strategy, customer relationships, and the commercial and compliance side of email authentication (DPAs, SLAs, enterprise procurement).","image":"https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg","knowsAbout":["Email Security Strategy","SaaS Product Management","Enterprise Compliance","Customer Success","Email Deliverability Business"],"worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradslavin"]},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. Trusted by 50,000+ organizations since 2014.","subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/are-you-ready-to-meet-the-threat-of-locky-ransomware/"},"articleSection":"phishing-protection","keywords":"","wordCount":533,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/08/hosted-email-server-4236.jpg","caption":"Threat","width":900,"height":600},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".answer-block","h1"]}} ```