Crypto Virus

Introductions

Crypto Virus occurred from 5 September 2013 to late May 2014. This virus is also known as the crypto locker (isolated in late May 2014 via Operation Tovar) virus and is a dangerous form of malware that has the functionality of encrypting files on the computer. Once it affects the computer system or laptop system all the files are locked. It declares the time limit to pay the ransom or else they destroy the files which are on the computer or the laptop. We can say that once infected with the virus, all your files are gone forever. This virus contains a public key that belongs to the author of the virus. So we must run some antivirus scans to detect this virus and protect the files available on the computer.

Note:-We should always keep in mind that never pay the ransom. It is unlikely that they will unlock those lock folders.

Working principle of Crypto Virus

This virus does not lockout users from the computer, but it restricts the user from accessing critical files on the computer. It warns the user to get a private key by paying the ransom or the files on the computer will be deleted. So the user pays that particular ransom to decrypt the file. The file is all encrypted, and they are impossible to decrypt even they pay that particular ransom.

What are the symptoms which show that the system is affected by the Crypto Virus?

• The system will run slower than before like the system is doing some actions in the background. It is because the encryption of the files decreases the storage space on the computer.
• Once the encryption is done, the system will show a warning that all the files have been encrypted. Then the user has to pay the ransom to decrypt those files which got encrypted.

How this virus enters the system?

• The most common method through which we get this virus in the system is through phishing emails that contain malicious attachments or through drive-by downloading. These attachments come as PDF or word files.
• We can also get the virus from some torrenting websites.

Possible impact of Crypto Virus

• The most common impact is it deletes the sensitive information from the system temporarily or permanently.
• It also harms the reputation of the organization.

How to get rid of this virus?

• To remove the virus we should install antivirus. This antivirus takes many hours depending on the speed of the computer. It also provides features to delete malicious files from the system.
• We should install some malware removal tools. It is used to detect ransomware like this Crypto Virus before it can create any effect on the system.
• We can also do a system restore to get rid of this virus. This will allow us to get to the point when the computer was not affected. But this will not help to decrypt those files which got encrypted by the virus.
• We can reformat the computer hard drive.
• If you know that your system is infected with this virus then unplug Ethernet cables and disable Wi-Fi or any other network adapters and put your device on Airplane mode.
• Disconnect all the external devices like USB drives or any external hard drives.