Is this true

donny-gal

This was posted by a fellow poster on another thread. My years of using PC's first of all taught me to back up, and have virus protection, but also what has been said to her is not fact.

"Hi Chums,been offline for a week as my computer caught a bad virus and it completely totalled my hard drive.I sound knowledgable don't I but its not me, its the 'puter man who told me.

I have lost all of my photo's and email addresses plus all the data from my machine Grrr I am so not a happy bunny.But he's cleaned it all up and now I have to start all over again.5 years of stuff just vanished.I had a lovely file full of recipes that have gone for a burton as well plus all of my Uni essays.He said that there is a nasty bug floating around that can be picked up via Facebook !!! and he has had to 'scrub' around 12 computers in the past month at least from this blooming thing.
So its back to the drawing board and all my numerous files of family history.I'm sad about the photos though as some are irreplaceable.Why on earth do people put stuff like this on the net.It doesn't make them richer or improve their life in anyway Grrr..."

This is an older lady, and to my mind, wiping the drive was not the only option, but would like your opinion as I feel she has been taken for a ride.
DG

sho_me_da_money

Having AV or protection is user-dependent. If you are good on systems then you can do without them (like I have) and protect your network at a hardware level.

The above is a cowboy job. If the user isn't tech savvy then its always advisable to perform regular backups and have some sort of software protection available

donny-gal

Totally agree, but a rough deal for a 70+ year old widow. DG

GunJack

it is possible - there's an encryption virus around at the moment, which if you get infected you can remove the infection itself BUT YOU CAN'T REMOVE THE ENCRYPTION from your files.

The people who write these things are lower than low, it's not even like they can benefit from duffing people's pics and docs :mad:

WTFH

Without knowing what the "virus" was, it's hard to say whether it was just a techy taking a shortcut, or something else (such as Windows RT 8.1 or some form of ransomeware)

Jivesinger

GunJack wrote: »

it is possible - there's an encryption virus around at the moment, which if you get infected you can remove the infection itself BUT YOU CAN'T REMOVE THE ENCRYPTION from your files.

Well it might be Cryptolocker which is going round.
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/10/18/cryptolocker-ransomware-see-how-it-works-learn-about-prevention-cleanup-and-recovery/

This is "ransomware" because it encrypts all your file and asks for a ransom to be paid to unlock them.

GunJack wrote: »

The people who write these things are lower than low, it's not even like they can benefit from duffing people's pics and docs :mad:

Obviously the people who wrote Cryptolocker do benefit, because some people pay the ransom.

GunJack

Jivesinger wrote: »

Well it might be Cryptolocker which is going round.
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/10/18/cryptolocker-ransomware-see-how-it-works-learn-about-prevention-cleanup-and-recovery/

This is "ransomware" because it encrypts all your file and asks for a ransom to be paid to unlock them.


Obviously the people who wrote Cryptolocker do benefit, because some people pay the ransom.

...and there's me thought that these types had been around that long that people didn't fall for it any more.......

bod1467

GunJack wrote: »

...and there's me thought that these types had been around that long that people didn't fall for it any more.......

You can never make anything idiot-proof. If you try, Nature has a habit of making a better idiot to counter this.

Jivesinger

GunJack wrote: »

...and there's me thought that these types had been around that long that people didn't fall for it any more.......

I have seen reports that some people do get their files back when they pay though.

Peter999_2

Yes, I'm afraid if it is the encyption virus it is totally possible that she has lost everything. It even encrypts network drives.

donny-gal

Would Avast protect against this?
DG