This variety of ransomware typically spreads through malicious email attachments and downloads from infected web sites disguised as software updates or pop up advertisements. Upon opening one of these infected email attachments or if you accidentally download it from a malicious website, this virus will immediately start encrypting all of your files and you will see a message pop up such as this one:
“Your personal files have been encrypted and you have 95 hours to pay us $300.”
Computer Virus Protection
This type of ransomware is not a new occurrence and there have been different forms of this kind of malware in circulation since 1989. Recently however Internet security companies report that there is a sharp increase in the number of computers affected by this cryptovirus, with businesses and companies being targeted as often as individual users. [1] There are many ways this malicious software can infiltrate your computer system, one version comes hidden in an email attachment that warns of a customer complaint, another variety will attach the virus to an email with an official sounding subject such as: “Authorization to Sue Privately Owned Vehicle on State Business”, that supposedly came from a well known enterprise such as Xerox.
Email Virus
The reports are grim if you have contracted Crypto Locker, even if you have a back up of your files. If your data storage device was connected to your computer during the time of infection you may not be able to recover the files on it. Similarly, since Crypto Locker can move through a mapped drive network, all the files in a shared network stored on separate physical drives connected at the time of the attack can also become encrypted and inaccessible.