Cryptolocker strikes small U.S. law firm

You've seen the story played out a hundred times in TV dramas: Frantic families attempt to pay the ransom but it goes bad and the kidnappers kill the hostage anyway, or just abandon him/her to die instead of holding up their end of the bargain and returning the victim to those who paid. Why does anyone expect a criminal to act honorably in the first place?

Now comes the digital counterpart to that, proving that online "kidnappers" are just as untrustworthy (maybe more so). When a member of this law firm opened an email attachment, thinking it was from the answering service, the server was infected with the Cryptolocker Trojan and it encrypted all their documents. They were willing to pay - but they had run out of time. And they aren't the only ones who have fallen prey to such attacks.

Read more here:

http://www.cio.com/article/747985/Cryptolocker_Scambles_U.S._Law_Firm_s_Entire_Cache_of_Legal_Files?taxonomyId=3089