Escaping CryptoLocker hell

Businesses offer best practices for escaping CryptoLocker hell

By Ellen Messmer,

Nov. 18, 2012

This article gives advice on dealing with the CryptoLocker malware. This malware encrypts user data and holds it ransom until the user pays the attackers for a key to unlock the data. Sometimes the key isn't even delivered when the victim pays. The ransom is typically $300 paid in Bitcoin. Often the only effective way to deal with the attack without paying the ransom is to do a full restore from a backup. The article recommends having frequent backups and backups of the backups. CryptoLocker is dynamic since its creators are continually finding ways to have it get past spam and anti-malware filters. CryptoLocker attacks are growing. The attackers use botnets and managed to hit 10,000 victims between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1. The attackers are relying solely on phishing emails to trick the users into installing the malware. From there it can spread through the network infecting other computers. The phishing emails often contain information seeming to come from FedEx or U.P.S. CryptoLocker not the only ransomware. There is a new version of the FBI virus going around. This ransonware states that it has the victim's criminal record and will delete it for a fee. The article suggests to use virus removal for the FBI virus instead of paying the ransom.