Moral to the story: back up your data regularly and put an air gap between your live data and your backup.
A bigger moral - don’t trust a bunch of dumb doughnut eaters to handle your computer security.
Good article, thanks for posting.
...While not foolproof, upgrading to Linux would go a long way to resolve their virus issues. I doubt they're up to using it though. I'd prefer they keep using windows so they can spend more time worring about viruses than violating our rights.
“Apart from not being a fool that is. Cryptolocker primarily spreads via email attachments, typically a PDF that claims to be from a government department or delivery service.”
I got one of those a couple weeks ago. Almost fell for it as I was expecting packages from Amazon. But there were some tells that made me suspicious.
Prevention is easier than the cure.
Foolishit offers the free CryptoPrevent tool which writes over 200+ restrictions to the Windows Software Policies folder. They will prevent Cryptolocker from installing itself in defined locations AND from encrypting files.
HitmanPro offers the free HPAlert tool - this will watch your files without need for user intervention and will block ANY suspicious executable that attempts to modify Windows files. Even if downloaded, Cryptolocker cannot run and encrypt files. The malware can then be safely deleted.
You can harden Windows against malware infection by installing both Blue Coat K9 Web Protection and block all known malware domains and servers and SpywareBlaster, to which one can add a custom blocklist to shut out all known malware domains and servers. If they can’t reach your PC, they can’t drop and run malware without your knowledge.
Never download files from addresses you don’t know and and scan all e-mail attachments that are downloaded prior to running them.
Keep your AV always up to date. And install all Microsoft Windows updates that can address ransomware threats.
Stay safe online and happy computing!