Similarly, smartphones are safe from cryptolocker.Īlthough it is the most famous example of ransomware, it's not the only one. So if you use an Apple computer, it can't affect you. Cryptolocker only infects PCs, but there are other types of ransomwareĬryptolocker is the name of one particular virus, which only infects Windows PCs, running XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you don't keep your computer clean, then at the end of the two-week period, you could be in for a nasty surprise.

In other words, there has never been a better time to update the protection on your computer.īut watch out – while the servers that control Cryptolocker are out of action, it's possible to be infected with it and not know. As a result, these users have the chance to remove the virus before it destroys data, using conventional anti-virus software. What that means is, until the window is closed – and the virus cycles to new servers – users who are infected with Cryptolocker won't lose their files to encryption. That back door is one of the ways a computer can be infected with Cryptolocker in the first place. The NCA has also taken down the control system for a related piece of software, known as GameOver Zeus, which provides criminals with a backdoor into users' computers. The agency didn't go into more detail, but it seems likely that at least one of the central servers which Cryptolocker speaks to before encrypting files has been taken down.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) announced yesterday that the UK public has got a 'unique, two-week opportunity to rid and safeguard' themselves from Cryptolocker. The authorities have won users a two-week window of safety Once all the files are encrypted, it posts a message asking for payment to decrypt the files – and threatens to destroy the information if it doesn't get paid. When a computer is infected, it contacts a central server for the information it needs to activate, and then begins encrypting files on the infected computer with that information.

The software is typically spread through infected attachments to emails, or as a secondary infection on computers which are already affected by viruses which offer a back door for further attacks.

Crypto locker symptoms