Computer Security Experts Fighting Back Against Latest Cyber Crime, 'Ransomware'
By tech editor Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Computer criminals have found a winner: malicious software that locks your files until you pay up.
Police departments, school districts, and home PC users have fallen victim. But now, there are new ways to fight off the infection -- and to prevent it.
Ransomware is aptly named, according to Patrick Nielsen, a senior security researcher with the antivirus company Kaspersky Lab, based in Woburn, Mass.
"It's software that hides your files, usually by encrypting them, and then forces you to pay a ransom in order to unlock those files again," he explains.
Nielsen says people are tricked into installing ransomware, perhaps by opening an infected e-mail attachment or by clicking on a popup.
"Usually, it pops up a message that says 'you've been suspected of copyright infringement' or 'you have child pornography on your computer,' or any other message that can be used to intimidate you or scare you into following the instructions," he explains. "That's when you get in trouble -- when you follow those links."
And until now, the only way to get rid of ransomware was to pay the bounty.
"Kaspersky has worked with the Netherlands police and prosecution on getting the actual encryption keys that [the computer criminals] have been using," Nielsen tells KYW Newsradio.
His company built a free tool that gives the victims of one type of ransomware, "CoinVault," a fighting chance. A separate program, CryptoPrevent -- designed by the PC repair software maker Foolish IT -- aims to keep several kinds of malware off your computer in the first place.
But remember the most important defense: back up your files early and often with a cloud-based service.
Get Kaspersky Ransomware Decryptor
Get Foolish IT's CryptoPrevent
