Computer Gurus

Take it from an Expert..... There is no way of getting the Data Back.
Heres a little info on the Virus....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBXrncdEifo"]CryptoLocker Virus Explained: The Tech Guy 1026 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcj9RKO3e38"]Virus Advisory: CryptoLocker - How to Protect Yourself - YouTube[/ame]

Note:


Some key lessons:
Antivirus applications by itself will not protect you. All an antivirus can do is detect things that have been around for a while -- long enough to have been found, isolated and forwarded to the virus scanner writers. Once malware is detected, it is trivial to change it so it is missed again.

The fact that most older viruses let you remove them was a fact of the "kindness" of the writers, NOT a marvel of technology. A virus of this type is relatively simple to make, it is easy to change to it is not picked up by malware scanners, and it produces lots of income for the people who wrote it. You can assume we will be seeing MORE of this kind of thing. Note that this video was published over a year ago...and the problem still goes on, the virus publishers have had zero problem staying ahead of the virus detectors.

Do not hope that there will be some technological solution to this. The only way you will "undo" this kind of attack is if the authors made a horrible error, and unfortunately the type of software they use is pretty well tested and understood, it is unlikely such a removal will be found. While some claim the NSA can undo this kind of cryptography, I have seen no evidence that this is true, and they won't do it for you even if they can.

Technology WILL NOT someday "make us safe" -- the malware problem has been GROWING over the last 25+ years, it is getting far more sophisticated and serious. And profitable, so you can assure it will continue to get worse.

Keep your computer updated.

Java is a security disaster. Most people can probably uninstall Java from their computers without serious loss except for games....and you probably shouldn't be playing games on the same machine you use for "serious" work. Note that Java is just a programming language, the problem with it is that it was sold to the world as a "safe" programming language, and that is just completely bogus, but things like browsers are only just starting to treat it as the threat it is.

Adobe products (Flash, Acrobat, etc.) are also huge security problems, though unfortunately, they are more difficult to avoid and used in business applications.

Backups are important, but make sure your backups are NOT attached, you don't want your backups being locked, too!

The lesson I've been trying to teach people for almost 20 years is yes, the Internet is a lot of fun, but it is much like a playground in a war zone -- they are shooting AT YOU, you do have resources they want, and if you are not very very careful, they will win, you will lose.

If you want a one sentence explanation of how to be "safe on the Internet", all I can say is "you aren't". To be a safe car driver, you have to understand how the car works, and all the things that can go wrong. To operate safely on the Internet, you need to understand the computer technology and how it is used against you...and most people aren't willing to do that. Technology won't save us