Jeff Evans
Yet another reason why your DAW PC should never be on the net. When will people get it.

Maybe that's do-able in a recording studio, but not in other types of businesses that rely on email, have offsite personnel or get business via the internet. For most, an always-on internet connection is crucial to their day-to-day functioning.
 
In the case of CryptoLocker, the usual attack vector is via an email attachment. The payload will be called xxxx.pdf.exe. Since Outlook doesn't show file extensions by default, the attachment looks like xxxx.pdf, which users assume is safe to open. The email will be spoofed to look like it's from UPS, Dunn & Bradstreet or the Better Business Bureau. If they get more sophisticated, it could even appear to be from someone on your contact list. All it takes is one user in your enterprise to have a momentary lapse of caution.

 This is the first I have heard of this one. Hope you get it sorted Bit.
 
   I have been under the impression that opening and looking at an email isn't harmful AS LONG AS YOU DON'T OPEN ATTACHMENTS OR CLICK LINKS OF ANY KIND. Sorry for the emphasis, I'm not yelling. Maybe this isn't correct. Maybe some emails are dangerous even to look at. If so this would be a new one for me. 
 
 

Starise
 This is the first I have heard of this one. Hope you get it sorted Bit.
 
   I have been under the impression that opening and looking at an email isn't harmful AS LONG AS YOU DON'T OPEN ATTACHMENTS OR CLICK LINKS OF ANY KIND. Sorry for the emphasis, I'm not yelling. Maybe this isn't correct. Maybe some emails are dangerous even to look at. If so this would be a new one for me. 
 
 

No, you still have to open something. They disguise it as a PDF at least for now. I told my wife, she gets a LOT of things from FedEx and UPS and she ships a lot out. I told her to not open any zip or PDF files from anyone... or anything really. This healthcare.gov sees like a golden opportunity for scammers to open fficial looking and sounding sites to "help" with the over flow. I am surprised we are not getting official looking emails with links to alternative websites for people to enroll in health insurance. There are a LOT of people who would just go and enter all their personal info. It seems ripe to me..
J

 That's good to know jbow. Hey how are you hanging in there? Are you in the band?

jbow
This sounds like a job for Black Ops... IMO. People like this need to be squashed like bugs.

Or how about NSA?  Shouldn't all our tax dollars paying for those massive computer resources and communication facilities actually be used for something that helps the taxpayers?

dmbaer

jbow
This sounds like a job for Black Ops... IMO. People like this need to be squashed like bugs.

Or how about NSA?  Shouldn't all our tax dollars paying for those massive computer resources and communication facilities actually be used for something that helps the taxpayers?

They better stick to listening to phone calls...they've put on a pretty good show demonstrating their computer skills.

It sure seems like it should be easy to figure out who spends the ransom money.

Wow Just sat down with my coffee and ventured back in to see what was up in the Old Coffee House.
 
Ive seen similar high jacking here in our area going on but it is being done through the use of telephone calls
They called me and forgot to turn on their cell phones Number Blocker/Private Setting
I just happen to have a spare computer with nothing on it other than the OS
 so I plugged it in to the Internet and called them back
When they answered it sounded like a party going on in the back ground with punks hooping and hollering.
After chatting for a minute, they fell right into my plan of walking through it.
I forget the site they gave me but as soon as I got in, they had complete control of this computer. 
LMAO The first thing he asked was "Where is all the stuff on this computer?"  (Hard not to laugh and keep my cool)
He then said if I buy the Upgrade to Windows, their company can Unlock all the files and the OS will return to working again.
I let him go through his sales pitch while I through all kinds of questions bothering him and he was very pushy on trying to get credit card info from me so he could apply his fix to the computer   :D
 
After getting bored with messing with him, I reached down and unplugged the computer
He was fast to ask where the computer went  LOL  I told him I didn't know-It JUST DIED 
 
I then stated that it wasn't a big deal, Id just dump it all, reload the OS and start from scratch.
WOW he freaked and started going on and on about why I needed to buy his fix so I didn't loose anything.  I said "Theres nothing on this computer to save, its just Windows and that's it"  LOL
 
So yup, after getting bored messing with him, I hung up.
He called right back after turning on his phones Private Settings.  I didn't answer
I then tried to call back to say-  This is the FBIs Cyber Division and we are outside the house.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a call back to him  DANG IT   LOL
 
And I was really starting to enjoy messing with the crook
 
According to my Caller ID they are in Las Vegas

I love messing with those guys. I once kept "Kevin" from "Texas" on the line for an hour while he tried to convince me he worked for Microsoft. Strangely, Kevin did not know where Redmond is. It's not a suburb of Bangalore, I hinted.

mike_mccue
It sure seems like it should be easy to figure out who spends the ransom money.

My thoughts exactly. You'd think that as soon as you try to convert your scam into cash your anonymity is blown. But I guess the NSA has more important things to do, like intercepting the chancellor of Germany's pizza orders...maybe those priorities will change when some senator's list of campaign contributors gets hijacked.