06/18/2014
CRYPTOWALL VIRUS ALERT!
WARNING: A new file encrypting derivative virus has been unleashed on internet users. To read the details from Cisco, browse to http://blogs.cisco.com/security/rig-exploit-kit-strikes-oil/.
The brief synopsis is that if your computer becomes infected with the CryptoWall virus, your data will likely become encrypted (unusable) and you'll be presented with a ransom popup that instructs you to deposit $500 USD equivalent of Bitcoins to the perpetrator's account. A more cost effective strategy is to: 1) keep your antivirus system and operating system up to date with latest definitions and patches 2) have a good backup strategy in place for your computer data using either a cloud backup service or external hard drive. Cisco reports that the virus infiltrates Silverlight, Java and Flash exploits.
A 1 Terabyte (1TB) hard drive can be purchased for under $100. Backup software is free. For instance, Microsoft includes a simple utility that can be used with an external USB hard drive, as an example, to create a system image then follow with nightly or weekly backups. Apple provides Mac users with TimeMachine and so on. In the business environment, more sophisticated methods are necessary and every organization's IT department should already have implemented a robust and reliable backup strategy and performed disaster recovery testing. Our experience shows that that doesn't necessarily extend to all individual corporate users, so be aware.
This post was co-authored by Levi Gundert with contributions from Emmanuel Tacheau and Joel Esler. In the last month we have observed high levels of traffic
