Have you been receiving E-Mails stating that you are about to receive a package or delivery, maybe from UPS or FedEx? Well if you do see one, just delete it. If you do open it up, PLEASE DON’T click on the link. If you do, ALLLL of your files are going to be encrypted and, unless you pay up, you will never access those files again.
You are not only being attacked by malicious software (aka malware) called a Trojan, but it’s holding your information ransom as well (aka ransomware). This bad piece of software is called CRYPTLOCKER.
If you activate this piece of malware, all of your local files and mounted drive files will be encrypted with an algorithm even NSA cannot crack. Therefore, the only way to get your files to open normally is to pay the ransom and get the key from the bad guys. Another messy situation is that you cannot pay with dollars, you have to pay with “bitcoin”, the illegal currency, to obtain your files.
So what can you do to prevent your files from becoming inaccessible? One: backup your information regularly to an external resource such as optical media (DVD or CD), hard drive, or thumb drive and once your back up is complete, disconnect the drive. Two: don’t open emails or messages from organizations or people you don’t recognize. And if you do open the message, and you are being asked to click on a link or provide personal information, DON’T do it!
This article was published by Roger Colón, 7/28/2014.