Beware of CyberLocker: The Nuclear Bomb of Ransomware
Posted: November 3rd, 2013, 10:15 am
This is a heads up to y'all about a particularly nasty and dangerous variant of "ransomware" that is going about these days.
"Ransomware", for those of you not familiar, is form of virus or root-kit worm that is implanted onto a person's computer, usually through an attachment to a spam post or uploading via a Bit Torrent or other sneaky site. It often shows itself in the form of a page that locks up your computer with the threat to pay a sizable ransom of money or pay some invisible antivirus/anti-malware program to unlock the virus.
This particular ransomware, though, goes well beyond even that. Called "CyberLocker", this worm not only locks up your PC, but it also goes deep into all of your files and folders and encrypts them with their own private code, rendering them totally useless and destroyed. It then gives the user a warning page: either pay up $300 (either through Bitcoin or GreenDot MoneyPak within 3 days to receive the code to unlock your files, or the lock stays on permanently.
And the really bad thing is, there's really no way to recover your files after they are nuked by this CyberLocker worm, even after it is cleaned from your PC.
The only real way to fight it is to not get infected with it to begin with....fortunately, you can protect yourself through simple common sense things like backing up your files and not opening attachments or links to sites you don't trust, or not using BitTorrents or downloading from suspect sites.
Here's an article by a renowned computer security firm on the best means of avoiding CyberLocker:
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/11/how- ... ansomware/
It's a nasty Internet out there, foks....be safe.
"Ransomware", for those of you not familiar, is form of virus or root-kit worm that is implanted onto a person's computer, usually through an attachment to a spam post or uploading via a Bit Torrent or other sneaky site. It often shows itself in the form of a page that locks up your computer with the threat to pay a sizable ransom of money or pay some invisible antivirus/anti-malware program to unlock the virus.
This particular ransomware, though, goes well beyond even that. Called "CyberLocker", this worm not only locks up your PC, but it also goes deep into all of your files and folders and encrypts them with their own private code, rendering them totally useless and destroyed. It then gives the user a warning page: either pay up $300 (either through Bitcoin or GreenDot MoneyPak within 3 days to receive the code to unlock your files, or the lock stays on permanently.
And the really bad thing is, there's really no way to recover your files after they are nuked by this CyberLocker worm, even after it is cleaned from your PC.
The only real way to fight it is to not get infected with it to begin with....fortunately, you can protect yourself through simple common sense things like backing up your files and not opening attachments or links to sites you don't trust, or not using BitTorrents or downloading from suspect sites.
Here's an article by a renowned computer security firm on the best means of avoiding CyberLocker:
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/11/how- ... ansomware/
It's a nasty Internet out there, foks....be safe.