[Fredslist] Got attacked by the virus cryptolocker. Can you help?

Wed Feb 26 18:38:17 EST 2014

I prefer if you’d say “For the benefit of all of us techno-challenged,  J”…

And to answer to your question, no, the techno-challenged people cannot avoid downloading CryptoLocker. They’d really need and IT consultant who can reasonably protect their system. Not all IT consultants are created equal and nowadays, there aren’t many who can actually provide reasonable protection to your system.

Most, if not all people who had been infected by CryptoLocker had firewall, spam filtering, and antivirus on their computers at the time when the infection has taken place. Just as the one of the policy department in Massachusetts, who actually paid the ransom had these protections. The reason is rather simple.

Firewalls are not suitable for stopping malware, viruses; they are designed for different purposes. Both the spam filtering and antivirus is “old technology” that can only protect against known malware and viruses. The time it takes for these technologies to identify new threats, or malware, is between 30-60 days in good cases. During this timeframe, these solutions are pretty much useless against unknown malware, or zero-day exploits as IT calls them. One must add computer protection against unknown malware to be able to ward off new viruses. And this is where the antivirus industry is dragging its feet. If I’d need to summarize the current status, the quote from my signature is a good summary:

"The amount of work and effort put forth to create opportunities for fraud is staggering.

The amount of work and effort put forth to stop it is...lacking- to say the least."

Developing and distributing malware is a lucrative market, that by now probably reaching into the billion dollars on the yearly basis. It would be nice, if it stays at this level; however, this figure may double by the end of the year.

As such, layered security is a must to prevent malware reaching one’s computer. There are number of solutions available nowadays, that can protect against unknown malware. Availability isn’t a question; however, complexity is and that’s where one would need the IT consultant who actually understand the complexity.

For the people, who aren’t so much “techno-challenged”, please contact me via email and will give you pointers for protecting the system beyond antivirus, spam, and firewall protections.

Otto Goencz CISA, CISM, CISSP, GSLC

Information Technology Specialist

1127 High Ridge Rd # 261

Stamford, CT 06905

Phone: 203.569.7610

Cell: 203.219.4716

Fax: 203.973.0367

 <mailto:otto at secure-bits.com> otto at secure-bits.com

 <http://www.secure-bits.com/> www.secure-bits.com

"The amount of work and effort put forth to create opportunities for fraud is staggering.

The amount of work and effort put forth to stop it is...lacking- to say the least."

From: fredslist-bounces at gothamnetworking.com [mailto:fredslist-bounces at gothamnetworking.com] On Behalf Of wgoldberg at mortgagewealthadvisors.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 10:01 AM
To: Raj Goel; robert; fredslist at gothamnetworking.com
Cc: anthony.marotta13 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [Fredslist] Got attacked by the virus cryptolocker. Can you help?

For the benefit of all of us techno-idiots,  ; -)   how does one avoid downloading a cryptolocker?

Warren Goldberg                NMLS#158412

Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist ®

President and Founder

Mortgage_Weath_Logo

Mortgage Wealth Advisors, Inc.

Tel:       516-302-1090   Cell: 516-810-8031

Direct: 516-584-7218   Fax: 516-584-0053

WGoldberg at MortgageWealthAdvisors.com 

Warren at WarrenGoldberg.com

www.MortgageWealthAdvisors.com 

Like Us on Facebook! <https://www.facebook.com/mortgagewealthadvisors>  

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255 Executive Drive, Suite 410

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Loans Are Arranged Through Third Parties

From: fredslist-bounces at gothamnetworking.com [mailto:fredslist-bounces at gothamnetworking.com] On Behalf Of Raj Goel
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 9:43 AM
To: robert; fredslist at gothamnetworking.com
Cc: anthony.marotta13 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [Fredslist] Got attacked by the virus cryptolocker. Can you help?

Robert,

                With cryptolocker, you have exactly 2 choices:

1)      Pay the ransom within the 3 days and get your files back

OR

2)      Restore from backup

If you have already “cleaned” the infection, then your files are irrevocably lost.

There is NO cleanup for Cryptolocker.

Going forward, your best defense is secure, redundant backups.

--Raj

Rajesh Goel, CISSP 
cell (917) 685-7731 
CTO: Brainlink International, Inc. 
raj at brainlink.com 
www.brainlink.com 
www.linkedin.com/in/rajgoel
www.rajgoel.com
You run your business, and leave the IT to us.

Author of "The Most Important Secrets To Getting Great Results From IT"

From: fredslist-bounces at gothamnetworking.com [mailto:fredslist-bounces at gothamnetworking.com] On Behalf Of robert
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 8:13 AM
To: fredslist at gothamnetworking.com
Cc: anthony.marotta13 at gmail.com
Subject: [Fredslist] Got attacked by the virus cryptolocker. Can you help?

Got hit by the virus cryptolocker last night. Have contained the virus through malwarebytes anti malware but NEED to find a program that will unevenly our files encrypted by this malicious virus.

Please share any information you have with me and my computer support Anthony Marotta. I copied him on this email.

Thank you Gothamites

Warm regards

Robert Esposito

Robert at barterluxury. Com

Cell 347-262-0306

Sent from my Galaxy S®III

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