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Ransomware!
A term that strikes fear in computer users
around the world (except, perhaps, in Russia) -
and rightly so! According to an e-mail newslet-
ter I just received from Webroot the most re-
cent incarnation is both more sophisticated and
more expensive than any previous version. It
is referred to as CryptoWall 4.0, and the going
rate for the “key” you will need to decrypt your
computer files is now $700.
For those not familiar with the term,
“ransomware” refers to malicious software in-
stalled on your computer designed to kidnap
your files. It encrypts your files, so that you
cannot access them or use them. Shortly after
encryption a message will appear on your com-
puter screen telling you that your files are now
encrypted and that you have a limited time to
pay a ransom to that person or organization in
return for the decryption key. You will be told
to purchase Bitcoins equivalent in value to the
ransom amount specified, and be given in-
structions about how to do this and how to
transmit those Bitcoins to the kidnapper. This
notice may include a reminder that if the
Bitcoins have not been received by the dead-
line specified, the amount of the ransom will
double. Further, if the ransom has not been
received by the specified date, the decryption
key for your computer will be destroyed. If this
happens, your computer files will be forever
encrypted and unavailable to you. Here is a
sample of such a notice, which I found on the
“bleepingcomputer.com” website:
Because the software used to encrypt your
files mimics legitimate encryption that you
might choose to do yourself, firewalls and antivi-
rus software typically do not offer much protec-
tion against ransomware. Further, as security
software firms have tried to come up with pre-
ventative or remedial software, the people be-
hind ransomware have continued to modify their
software to stay at least several steps ahead.
To give you a sense of what is driving the “bad
guys” to pursue this line of work, I’ve seen an
estimate that one of the first variants of this soft-
ware, Cryptolocker, netted $325,000,000 in ran-
som payments during the first year it was being
used. (Ransomware is used against business-
es and government agencies, as well as individ-
ual computer users. Needless to say, the ran-
som demanded from the larger victims is con-
siderably higher than the ransom for individual
users; I remember at least one anecdote about
a municipality which paid $75,000 to get the pri-
vate key needed to decrypt their files.)
By now you are probably asking yourself, “If my
firewall and antivirus software will not protect
me from ransomware, what can I do to protect
myself?” If you dig into this subject on the Inter-
net, you will find some elaborate, technical ap-
proaches (that are beyond my level of exper-
tise). Further, implementing some of these fea-
tures may impede normal computer operations.
However, there are some relatively simple
things you can do to minimize your vulnerability.
These include:
1. If you have not already done so, estab-
lish a “limited” or “standard” user account
on your computer (in addition to the
“administrative” account that you had to
create to use your computer in the first
place). Then, stop using your administra-
tive account completely – other than to
install, update or remove software or per-
form other essential administrative func-
tions. Use your new standard account
for all Web-related activity. Why? Be-
cause prior administrative approval is re-
quired to make any changes to your com-
puter when you are operating in your
standard account. This limits the ability
of the bad guys to trick you into installing
an “.exe” file on your computer.
2. Speaking of installing “.exe” files, all the
usual warnings against “phishing”, indis-
criminate Web surfing, opening email at-
tachments and clicking on links contained
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