CryptoLocker gained fame and fortune for the people behind it. It also spawned a growing number of variants, which can supposedly be found on the DarkNet via the Tor Onion network.

The first time that I had heard of CryptoLocker was on the Drudge Report site, back in late 2013. A Police department had paid $750 (in untraceable BitCoins) to get the encryption key, because Cryptolocker had encrypted their network. Click on this line to read a similar article about what I believe to have been the same situation.

Moving forward more than a year and we have Drudge Report with yet another story about a US Police Department paying Ransomware. This time four towns and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office supposedly paid $300 in BitCoins. Their computer systems were supposedly hit by something called “megacode“. Just another CyrptoLocker variant, me thinks.

Police Departments might want to click on this line to read about the Palo Alto Networks next-generation security platform and how it can help protect Networks and Enterprise Systems from Ransomware like CryptoLocker. Palo Alto Networks are the same folks who were offering a downloadable free book about CyberSecurity (plse see our prior posts on CyberSecurity).

Everyone should be using AntiMalware by MalwareBytes. Visit their site and you can test drive their security package for 30 days. Rather good security software at a reasonable price, which everyone should buy IMHO.Yes, it adds another layer of security to protect your computer(s) from malware like CryptoLocker and it’s variants.

Click on this line to visit the Foolish IT site where they make available a program titled CryptoPrevent. The Premium version is low cost. There is also a “Free” version. Basically it can prevent forms of ransomware from running. Layered Security offers better protection. Adding CryptoPrevent to your computers adds yet another layer of security to better protect your files. I have D/L CryptoPrevent and will post about it again in the future.

Click on this line to visit the Britec Computers website, which has tons of great info. They also posted a really informative video on YouTube, about CryptoLocker. That video can be viewed in the window below.

Video is courtesy of the Britec09 YouTube channel

Click on this link to view other CyberSecurity related posts found on Uniquely Toronto.

Posted by: Vincent Banial
http://www.uniquelytoronto.com

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