New Malware In Town and it’s Ugly……

There’s a big threat out there called Cryptolocker.  A particularly ugly piece of ransomware.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Usually the virus payload hides in an attachment to a phishing message from popular companies like FEDEX, UPS giving tracking information or a bank attachment for a money transfer.  All the attachments show as a harmless PDF.  Once its downloaded it targets files with:

.odt, *.ods, *.odp, *.odm, *.odc, *.odb, *.doc, *.docx, *.docm, *.wps, *.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm, *.xlsb, *.xlk, *.ppt, *.pptx, *.pptm, *.mdb, *.accdb, *.pst, *.dwg, *.dxf, *.dxg, *.wpd, *.rtf, *.wb2, *.mdf, *.dbf, *.psd, *.pdd, *.pdf, *.eps, *.ai, *.indd, *.cdr, *.jpg, *.jpe, img_*.jpg, *.dng, *.3fr, *.arw, *.srf, *.sr2, *.bay, *.crw, *.cr2, *.dcr, *.kdc, *.erf, *.mef, *.mrw, *.nef, *.nrw, *.orf, *.raf,                                                                                                 *.raw, *.rwl, *.rw2, *.r3d, *.ptx, *.pef, *.srw, *.x3f, *.der, *.cer, *.crt, *.pem, *.pfx, *.p12, *.p7b, *.p7c

When it finds a file matching that extension, it encrypts the file using a public key and then makes a record of the file in the Windows registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\CryptoLocker\Files. It then prompts the user that his or her files have been encrypted and that he or she must use prepaid cards or Bitcoin to send hundreds of dollars to the author of the malware.

Keep your computers secure! Don’t let this happen to your business!