Crypto Locker malware ALERT

There is a serious piece of malware called “Crypto Locker” that is being circulated as an email attachment.

Description
If Crypto Locker is successfully installed on a victim’s machine, it will encrypt all the data files stored on the computer’s hard drive.
In addition, the malware will also seek out and encrypt any data files it finds on Windows shared drives and folders. It will also encrypt cloud-based shares such as SkyDrive if you have these shares open on your computer.

Once all the accessible files have been encrypted, the victim’s computer will display a banner screen informing them that their files are encrypted and they have 72 hours to pay a ransom, generally $300, for the key to recover their files. If the ransom is not paid, the files remain encrypted. If no plain-text originals are stored as back-ups, the data contained in the files is irrecoverably lost.

Recent victims were exposed to Crypto Locker when they clicked on email attachments labeled “Remit.zip” with a subject line of “FW: Last Month Remit.”

Prevention
The only effective defense against Crypto Locker is prevention. Please--DO NOT--click on any email attachments, or links in messages, if you have not personally identified and confirmed with the sender that the content is legitimate.

Please exercise great care in this matter as this malware represents a serious threat to organizational and personal information.