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CryptoLocker and CryptoPrevent

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wraith808:
MakeUseOf has an article on CryptoLocker and CryptoPrevent, and though I don't quote the linkbait title, it does bring up an interesting question.

If you do fall victim to cryptolocker, and payment does work, is it ethical to pay?

(CryptoLocker was also discussed in the Bitcoin thread)

Raven:
Another question - what's next? We have seen fake Antivirus scans, then FBI virus, and now this crypto crap, what's next?

Actually, it is not always necessary to pay, our local computer repair man uses some forensic tools to find and restore files:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_digital_forensics_tools (as they are not completely deleted)

PS: for those in need and just to remove the infection, here is a guide utilizing malwarebytes: http://privacy-pc.com/how-to/remove-cryptolocker-virus.html

PPS: Though it is evil, such viruses teach people to do regular backups.

x16wda:
PPS: Though it is evil, such viruses teach people to do regular backups.
-Raven (November 03, 2013, 02:28 PM)
--- End quote ---
Actually, it just teaches them what can happen if they don't do backups.

Among other things, our company sells a service that backs up client servers hourly and can spin them up quickly in the case of hardware failure or other calamity. We've already used it twice to restore client servers that were 'Crypto-Lockered".  (Not the same client both times!)  We also saw it hit at another site; we didn't have our backup system in place there so I'm not sure what came of it.  But if your company depends on its data, and the data gets honked, and you don't have a good backup, either you pay up or your company is gone.  To heck with ethics, I think most small business owners would not want to go out of business just to prove a point.

rgdot:
Further to the ethics points, I am seeing a surprising number of people, not companies, pay up.

Pay for the likes of MBAM pro and you are half, it's never a full step anymore, a step ahead

Renegade:
Is it ethical to hand over your wallet to a robber with a gun/knife?

I don't think it's an ethical question. It's a practical question. Do you save your own skin?

For ransomware, it's close to the same question.

It sets up a damned if you do, damned if you don't dichotomy - no matter what you do, you're damned. Those aren't ethical questions. They're ethical traps.

A coyote running through the woods steps into a trapper's trap which firmly clamps around his leg. He can either stay there waiting for the trapper to come and kill him, or die waiting, or he can chew off his leg. The coyote is damned, damned or damned. Which damnation do you prefer?

Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

A barber in a town shaves all the men who do not shave themselves. Does the barber shave himself?

Johnny creates a maze for which there is no exit. Sally goes in and the entrance slams shut. How does she get out?

MULTIPLE CHOICE:
Q) Which of the following chocolate bars contains nuts?

1) Ferarri 458 Spider
2) Coconut trees
3) Star Wars: A New Hope
4) Lime green

These kinds of cases only show that it is possible to create questions that are outside of a particular domain and that asking the question within that domain yields a nonsensical answer.

You only lose if you play the game.

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