This happened to my sisters computer.
URGENT!!! Do not go to bed tonight until you do this. Please back up every file, picture, music etc you have stored on your computer. If you value it....back it up. Back it up in a couple of places. My computers were struck by Cryptowall, which is a horrible encryption virus that will encrypt all the files on your computer. The only way to get them back is to pay a ransom to obtain the decryption key. Even if you do pay it, there is no guarantee you will get that key. If you have your files backed up, then your computer can be reset to factory condition and your files reloaded from your back-ups. No one is safe, even if you have anti-virus software on your computers. It finds it's way into your computer in many different ways: piggy backs on emails, trusted web sites, pdf files you download, coupon sites you visit to get coupons, etc. I spoke to two other people today who have experienced an attack by this virus and also lost everything. Sadly, I have learned a very hard lesson after losing all of my photos and files after I found out that my WD external hard drive was not doing the automatic back-ups it was suppose to be doing. From now on I will back up everything on separate USB drives, double check my external hard drive to make sure it's doing it's job. If you use the cloud, make sure you back it up there too. The violation and insecurity you feel after an attack like this is comparable to having your home broken into and having everything you cherish stolen. I had many photos stored that I can never replace; so many were of family members and pets that are no longer with me. I don't want my friends to go thru this; learn from my lesson; BACK IT UP, BACK IT UP, BACK IT UP!
URGENT!!! Do not go to bed tonight until you do this. Please back up every file, picture, music etc you have stored on your computer. If you value it....back it up. Back it up in a couple of places. My computers were struck by Cryptowall, which is a horrible encryption virus that will encrypt all the files on your computer. The only way to get them back is to pay a ransom to obtain the decryption key. Even if you do pay it, there is no guarantee you will get that key. If you have your files backed up, then your computer can be reset to factory condition and your files reloaded from your back-ups. No one is safe, even if you have anti-virus software on your computers. It finds it's way into your computer in many different ways: piggy backs on emails, trusted web sites, pdf files you download, coupon sites you visit to get coupons, etc. I spoke to two other people today who have experienced an attack by this virus and also lost everything. Sadly, I have learned a very hard lesson after losing all of my photos and files after I found out that my WD external hard drive was not doing the automatic back-ups it was suppose to be doing. From now on I will back up everything on separate USB drives, double check my external hard drive to make sure it's doing it's job. If you use the cloud, make sure you back it up there too. The violation and insecurity you feel after an attack like this is comparable to having your home broken into and having everything you cherish stolen. I had many photos stored that I can never replace; so many were of family members and pets that are no longer with me. I don't want my friends to go thru this; learn from my lesson; BACK IT UP, BACK IT UP, BACK IT UP!
