Screen Shot of Cryptolocker Ransom Message with Countdown Timer
It feels as if our lives are stored up or backed up on our laptop: banking information, files, pictures, address books, etc. Small business owners can add financial records, client data, confidential emails and more to the list of seemingly “can’t live without” items.
That is why a new virus — cryptolocker — is particularly cruel, especially this time of year because it is often disguised as a UPS or Fedex delivery tracking email with a pdf-looking attachment (but there are many other attachment variations that try to mimic a real company). If you have the misfortune to open the attachment, it puts in motion an encryption to all of your files. When finished wrecking havoc, you get a red screen warning with a countdown of 72 hours for you to pay $300 in bitcoin currency or lose all of your files. If you pay, you will get a key code to unlock your own files, which works for most, but not all victims. Then you also need to pay someone to remove the virus so it won’t activate again. If you don’t pay, your files are gone – just like that. It’s so serious that the federal government wants victims to report incidents to the FBI via the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
These types of viruses have earned the name “ransomware” to which we say – why don’t these scammers get a real job. I witnessed a victim in tears as she was given the prognosis and so business partners, clients and friends – be careful. This things is real and it’s real bad.
The USA Today’s Byron Acohido calls them Cybergrinches and has authored an article about how to protect yourself from these bad guys, starting with this one: don’t open email attachments from someone you don’t know. I have another one: if you are not expecting a package (and even if you are) be wary of confirmation attachments from UPS and Fedex emails.
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Leisa Chester Weir
Principal
LGK Marketing Matters Blog 