Crypto locker virus
Cole, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R.
CRYPTO LOCKER VIRUS SOFTWARE
and foreign law enforcement officials worked together to seize computer servers central to the malicious software or “malware” known as Cryptolocker, a form of “ransomware” that encrypts the files on victims’ computers until they pay a ransom.ĭeputy Attorney General James M.
If your systems are infected, PCTECH can help you with the verification, re-installation of OS and restoration of applicable data.The Justice Department today announced a multi-national effort to disrupt the Gameover Zeus Botnet – a global network of infected victim computers used by cyber criminals to steal millions of dollars from businesses and consumers – and unsealed criminal charges in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Omaha, Nebraska, against an administrator of the botnet. These types of viruses are sure to become more common in the future. This is an important reminder that all data on any computer system should be backed up regularly. The only known solution at this time is a restore from a last data backup. The website BleepingComputer have some additional insight on this Learn more. In some cases, it may be possible to recover previous versions of the encrypted files using System Restore or other recovery software used to obtain “shadow copies” of files. If this time elapses, the private key is destroyed, and your files may be lost forever.įiles targeted are those commonly found on most PCs today a list of file extensions for targeted files include:ģfr, accdb, ai, arw, bay, cdr, cer, cr2, crt, crw, dbf, dcr, der, dng, doc, docm, docx, dwg, dxf, dxg, eps, erf, indd, jpe, jpg, kdc, mdb, mdf, mef, mrw, nef, nrw, odb, odm, odp, ods, odt, orf, p12, p7b, p7c, pdd, pef, pem, pfx, ppt, pptm, pptx, psd, pst, ptx, r3d, raf, raw, rtf, rw2, rwl, srf, srw, wb2, wpd, wps, xlk, xls, xlsb, xlsm, xlsx Infected users also have a time limit to send the payment. Currently, infected users are instructed to pay $300 USD to receive this private key. The bad news is decryption is impossible unless a user has the private key stored on the cybercriminals’ server. This ransomware is particularly nasty because infected users are in danger of losing their personal files forever. Payment often, but not always, has been followed by files being decrypted. Many say that the ransom should not be paid, but do not offer any way to recover files others say that paying the ransom is the only way to recover files that had not been backed up. If the deadline is not met, the malware offers to decrypt data via an online service provided by the malware's operators, for a significantly higher price in Bitcoin.Īlthough CryptoLocker itself is readily removed, files remain encrypted in a way which researchers have considered infeasible to break.
The malware then displays a message which offers to decrypt the data if a payment (through either Bitcoin or a pre-paid voucher) is made by a stated deadline, and threatens to delete the private key if the deadline passes. When activated, the malware encrypts certain types of files stored on local and mounted network drives using RSA public-key cryptography, with the private key stored only on the malware's control servers. A CryptoLocker attack may come from various sources one such is disguised as a legitimate email attachment.
CRYPTO LOCKER VIRUS WINDOWS
CryptoLocker is a ransomware trojan which targets computers running Microsoft Windows and first surfaced in September 2013.