We would like to let you know about a particularly destructive virus now being sent around on the Internet. It arrives by email, or occasionally an infected website.
The email will have a zip attachment which contains an executable file. If you run the file in the zip by double clicking it, the virus will activate.
The virus writers have been very clever, so the attachment may well be disguised as a PDF report, or an Excel spreadsheet. It may also have the correct logo for those file types.
If you run the file, it activates and does the following damage:
– Searches your PC for documents and encrypts them
– Searches any network drives you might have and encrypts the files there
– Looks for any memory keys or backup drives and encrypts the files there
Once the files are encrypted, there is no longer any way to open them.
You will then be presented with a link to pay $300 to get the files back. We cannot get the files back for you other than from backups that are performed on your server files. Any files not in the backup, along with changes since the last backup, are lost unless the charge is paid!
We have already had numerous home users call us who have lost:
– Photos
– Financial documents
– Other important data
Whilst Sophos and the email filtering system catch the majority of these viruses, they are being released in huge numbers, very quickly. As a result, they can sometimes get through before the systems have had a chance to update.
It is imperative, therefore, that your staff are made aware of the situation and to be extremely suspicious of any email that arrives with a zip attachment.
