Cryptolocker. Stiff punishment is called for. From the BBC (via Jack):
A virulent form of ransomware has now infected about quarter of a million Windows computers, according to a report by security researchers.
Cryptolocker scrambles users' data and then demands a fee to unencrypt it alongside a countdown clock. ...
Safety steps
Dell suggested PCs be blocked from communicating with the hundreds of domains names it had flagged as being linked to the spread of Cryptolocker, and it suggested five further steps the public and businesses could take to protect themselves:
- Install software that blocks executable fields and compressed archives before they reach email inboxes
- Check permissions assigned to shared network drives to limit the number of people who can make modifications
- Regularly back-up data to offline storage such as Blu-ray and DVD-Rom disks. Network-attached drives and cloud storage does not count as Cryptolocker can access and encrypt files stored there
- Set each PC's software management tools to prevent Cryptolocker and other suspect programs from accessing certain critical directories
- Set the computer's Group Policy Objects to restrict registry keys - databases containing settings - used by Cryptolocker so that the malware is unable to begin the encryption process
No, I haven't been hit by it. Things like this really make me angry though.