Cyptrolocker

[Medic115]

If you get a message from your Mal-ware (if you are lucky) about cyropto locker or spelling variants.
My son works in computer consulting and networking and the virus clean up that is normal with business computers. It works on hard wire systems and WiFi.
CYRO, CYPTRO or other variant spellings, be very careful.
Kaspersky 2014, Microsoft, and all the popular freeware virus and mal-ware will not pick it up.
My son, under controlled a controlled situation today ran this from a customers computer.
It scans and starts logging and reporting back to One of it's masters. Each master reports back to it's master and so on. This is the type of system who breached Target's software.
Your average virus mal-ware software can't defeat this.
It takes a root format, or dod wipe of the drive.
This stuff is crazy, It mines for all IP's and mac addresses on a computer to infect them all to mine information.
A demo from my son showed this in action scared me
I can't post video due to his work restrictions, But this is bad stuff.
Long post but need for everyone to know.

 

[poltergeisty]

There are many ways of blocking it. Bleeping Computer has a nice long thread going on. One way is to use Hit Man Pro Alert CryptoGuard.

HitmanPro.Alert CryptoGuard - SurfRight

 

[NHdave]

This is the type of system who breached Target's software.

No it's not.

It takes a root format, or dod wipe of the drive.

No it doesn't

This is old news, but crypto locker does just what it's name implies, encrypts your personal files and demands ransom to get them back. The infection itself is quite easy to remove, by no means is any type of format required.

 

[poltergeisty]

Here's another tool to prevent Cryptolocker. YMMV, I haven't used it.

Becasue of the way the url is named it masks it. So I have to link it here in a code box.

http://www.fooli****.com/vb6-projects/cryptoprevent/

Well, as you can see that doesn't work either. Just Google CryptoPrevent.

 

[questnz]

Todays article in PC World How to rescue your PC from ransomware | PCWorld

 

[fxdscon]

Sounds like the OP's son who

"works in computer consulting and networking and the virus clean up that is normal with business computers",

was quite mis-informed!

.

 

[questnz]

Aye, NHdave summarized this already, there seems to be confusion from some "experts" about the difference between removing Ransom-ware and kissing your encrypted files good bye without restoring from good backup. There is no need to Nuke HD with Dban or similar software, bit drastic measure!

 

[poltergeisty]

Todays article in PC World How to rescue your PC from ransomware | PCWorld

Hitman Pro kickstart was specifically designed to remove ransomeware. Downloads - SurfRight

You can combine more than one malware scanner on a DVD with SARDU. Multiboot USB DVD Builder | Windows | SARDU

 

[questnz]

Hey you are absolutely right as already been commented on, many ways to remove Ransomware, this is easy bit, you just "rescue" the OS and the some HD content, get the encrypted files back with encryption key residing "out in the wild" is the impossible task. The money is in the data part.