CryptoLocker as of 11/3/2013

If you have read my other posts on this, you know. But for those of you who do not, there is a piece of ransomware that has been making the rounds on the internet since September of this year. And what have given it the ability to spread for this long is the fact that it actually encrypts your files.

I'm not going to go into it all here, because that's what my other posts are for. You can just read the other posts under "The CryptoLocker Saga" label in order to find everything I know about this ransomware.

The purpose of writing this blog post is to inform users of two recent changes with CryptoLocker.

Change #1: Some of the newest variants of CryptoLocker delete all Shadow Copies of your files. This leaves your only options being to restore from backups or to pay the ransom. And attempting to pay the ransom is the perfect way to talk about the second change.

Change #2: Say you have run out of time to pay the ransom. The clock has gone down to zero, and you without any backups, have no way of recovering your files.

Those who made CryptoLocker are now operating a website which allows you to download the public and private key for your copy of the ransomware as well as a decrypter. Although there is one issue that some people might have with this. To pay the ransom before time runs out costs 2 Bitcoins or the equivalence in the form of money loaded onto a GreenDot MoneyPak card. To pay it after time runs out costs 10 Bitcoins. This converts into $2,100 US Dollars.

So, about $400 before time runs out, $2,100 after time runs out. It does not surprise me that those who make CryptoLocker are doing this. I'm sure that quite a few people are desperate to get their files back. This is somewhat smart considering that the page is completely independent of how much time the ransomware says you have.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to comment if you have any questions or comments.

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Updated 11/7/2013:

The price of the "late payment" option keeps going up along with the price of Bitcoins. As the price goes up for one Bitcoin (about $300 at this point), the price of the late payment will go up (about $3,000 at this point.)

I would highly recommend that if you are infected with this, you make it your top priority to determine if you have any other options then to pay the ransom. If you find out before time is up, you can still pay the $300 flat rate via a GreenDot MoneyPak card. At this point, it will save you $2,700, but this figure can change. And if Bitcoin takes a big dive, odds are good that those that make CryptoLocker will no longer take it.