Jesse, I assume it was email thank you?
Yep. Occasionally I still get one on paper, and now I think that's weird!
So my poor mother's computer is being held hostage and they may not be able to get her stuff back. :(
I'm not sure how old he is, but I heard him use the word 'newfangled' one time, so he's gotta be pretty far gone.
Dawn ,'Beneath You'
Natter 74: Ready or Not
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Jesse - Aug 31, 2016 6:53:38 am PDT #26835 of 30003
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Gudanov - Aug 31, 2016 6:59:10 am PDT #26836 of 30003
Coding and Sleeping
Ransomware?
Strix - Aug 31, 2016 6:59:16 am PDT #26837 of 30003
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
Cass, this is horrifying. I can't even imagine how hard this is for you and your family. I'm wishing for the best.
Matt, good thoughts going out for your friend.
Connie Neil - Aug 31, 2016 7:09:48 am PDT #26838 of 30003
brillig
Ransomware?
Obnoxious stuff. It hits our users on a regular basis. I've dealt personally with 7 people this year with their data locked down.
brenda m - Aug 31, 2016 7:11:06 am PDT #26839 of 30003
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
So my poor mother's computer is being held hostage and they may not be able to get her stuff back. :(
That happened to one of my team members last year. Ugh. I would not expect that situation to resolve well.
Occasionally I still get one on paper, and now I think that's weird!
Totally.
Jesse - Aug 31, 2016 7:31:44 am PDT #26840 of 30003
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Ransomware?
Apparently.
So what should she have done? And how do you protect yourself?
Gudanov - Aug 31, 2016 7:35:14 am PDT #26841 of 30003
Coding and Sleeping
From what I understand there is a toolkit that can unencrypt some cases of ransomware. Apparently some, but not all, of these guys (or gals I suppose, let's just go with scum). Anyhow some of the scum that make ransomware aren't great with encryption and simply used random values to generate keys. Since it goes on to encrypt files that creates timestamps on the files and the default random value seed is often the current time, it's possible to guess the keys from the time when the encryption started.
This is why you should use an entropy store instead of just generating a random number.
tommyrot - Aug 31, 2016 7:37:26 am PDT #26842 of 30003
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
My work computer got infected with ransomware a year ago, despite having antivirus software.
The best thing to do is to have an automatic backup so if your computer is infected you can nuke it from orbit and reinstall everything.
Gudanov - Aug 31, 2016 7:39:47 am PDT #26843 of 30003
Coding and Sleeping
So what should she have done? And how do you protect yourself?
Always back up stuff you need with software than can restore earlier versions and not just the latest version. Apply OS updates and use updated anti-malware software. Anti-malware software isn't so important on Mac and Linux though.
Gudanov - Aug 31, 2016 7:42:12 am PDT #26844 of 30003
Coding and Sleeping
Here's a link to some decryptors if your mom is lucky enough to have gotten an infection from scum who aren't good at encryption.