Recently, we’ve been hearing a lot about the CryptoWall Virus, one of the most destructive PC viruses released to date. It usually infiltrates systems by disguising itself as a .pdf attachment in fake emails, but there are multiple versions floating around.  CryptoWall holds documents on your computer for ransom and can permanently corrupt them unless you pay the virus’s creators to obtain a decryption key.

BleepingComputer.com describes CryptoWall as “a file-encrypting ransomware program that was released around the end of April 2014 that targets all versions of Windows including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. When you are first infected with CryptoWall it will scan your computer for data files and “encrypt” them using RSA encryption so they are no longer able to be opened. Once the infection has encrypted the files on your computer drives it will open a Notepad window that contains instructions on how to access the CryptoWall Decryption Service where you can pay a ransom to purchase a decryption program. The ransom cost starts at $500 USD and after 7days goes up to $1,000. This ransom must be paid in Bitcoins and sent to a Bitcoin address that changes per infected user.”

So what can you do to avoid this debilitating virus? First and foremost, make sure you are backing up all your files regularly. If you have backed up your files to an external drive or to the cloud, then you can easily restore them and have nothing to fear from CryptoWall. For assistance with data backup and recovery, contact our Network Services Department today.

Want to learn more about CryptoWall? See www.bleepingcomputer.com or call us at 863-686-3167 and speak to a Network Services representative.