We’ve seen one of the nastiest viruses we’ve ever encountered in the shop this week, called CryptoLocker. After the infection, the virus encrypts all your documents and photos. It then demands a payment of up to 300 Euros to decrypt the files, which needs to be acted on within a time limit after which decryption will no longer be available:
The bad news is this isn’t the usual scare-mongering we often see with so-called Ransomware. The virus has genuinely encrypted the files and there really is no way to unscramble your data without paying the fee which we wouldn’t recommend and has of course no guarantees! If you do get the virus, disconnect your Internet connection to prevent further files becoming encrypted.
The virus is relatively easy to remove but your files will still be unusable. You will have to rely on a backup, or the slim possibility of a little known feature of some versions of Windows called Shadow Copy.
According to Sophos, a security software company, the virus is spread via email or botnets. Botnets exist on already infected machines and allow further viruses and malware to be attached, so it’s vitally important that you have your virus protection up to date and we’d suggest running a full scan of Malwarebytes as well. Our recommendation would also be to have Malwarebytes Pro active on your machine for real-time malware protection.
The video below from Sophos shows the virus in action:
Please do give us a call on 01822 618544 if you have any concerns.
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