Warning - protect your computer against horrible virus

[hectors house]

Please stop what you are doing and back up anything and everything that you value on your computer, (your family photos, childminding documents etc etc) on a CD, external hard drive or memory stick.

My computer was hit by a horrible virus last week - my computer was locked when I was on internet with message, so called from West Yorkshire Police, telling me I had violated laws of GB and that they had been tracking my computer and had proof that I had illegal images of porn, child porn and abuse on my computer - obviously I was very upset.

The message also said that I should go to a shop and buy a uKash voucher for £100, enter the voucher code into the message page and my computer would be unlocked, if I entered the code in wrong 3 times then my hard drive would be completely wiped and I would be prosecuted.

I rang the non emergency police number (101) and they said it was a scam and not to pay (I had realised that), and I had to report it to internet fraud squad.

I rang the chap who normally helps with my computer problems and took it to him Saturday - he said the virus is called RANSOM WARE and that it puts all your data into a password protected zip folder (password could be up to 50 characters long), he did say he may not be able to recover data and would reinstall windows etc - I said the computer is a metal box, what is in it is far more valuable. Anyway got computer back yesterday, he managed to recover all data (I think) but it is all over the place as all the data was taken out of folders and muddled up - our computer chap has done his best to put back but needs a lot more work to tidy it up.

We had no excuse not to have saved our photos and data - we have an external hard drive in the cupboard, I thought we had backed it up a year ago (but I still could have lost both my daughters wedding photos), but when my husband backed everything up last night we hadn't saved anything for 2 years!

I have been lucky - our computer chap (who only does this as a hobby - not main job) says he has had 3 more computers since Saturday with same virus -don't put yourself through the worry I have had for 5 days, don't know what I would have done if had lost all my new childminding policies etc, if Ofsted had turned up in Sept all I could have shown them is a crime ref number and an empty computer! I did post last week about ICO licence, to start with I thought the message was saying I had broken the law because I didn't have one - think I will get one, but it still won't protect you against viruses like this. Aparently it had turned off my AVG security system - possibly through a pop up message, e-mail or something I had downloaded. Has anyone else had this virus?

[Chimps Childminding]

Thanks for the warning, I keep thinking I should really back mine up, but its one of those things that is on the "TO DO" list!!

[AgentTink]

Thanks for the warning hector. I have not had your virus, but a few years ago another computer i had was runied by a virus and i lost everything. Luckily I had saved most important things likes pictures to disc's. However i must admit that recently i have not been very good at backing up things, and i really should since i have 1000's of photos of my little girl who has recently turned 3.

I already use dropbox for all my childminding work as i find it useful to be able to access this data on different computers, but the free storage you get on dropbox is not enough for all my photographs.

I must make a start today on backing up my phootgraphs to disc's, especially if this is a new virus doing the round's. I have also recently been looking at external hard drives and i think it most probably time to invest in one, as it can be very time consuming using disc's.

Hope you manage to find everything.

[rickysmiths]

Oh dear. Thank you for the warning.

I must say I have had an external Hard Drive for some years now and back up regularly and always have when I have added new photos or work.

Dh has his own and we back up the children's onto my hard drive but had just discussed about getting dd one of her own as she has just started an internship with a design engineer and is doing most of her work on a computer.

[rickysmiths]

Thanks for the warning hector. I have not had your virus, but a few years ago another computer i had was runied by a virus and i lost everything. Luckily I had saved most important things likes pictures to disc's. However i must admit that recently i have not been very good at backing up things, and i really should since i have 1000's of photos of my little girl who has recently turned 3.

I already use dropbox for all my childminding work as i find it useful to be able to access this data on different computers, but the free storage you get on dropbox is not enough for all my photographs.

I must make a start today on backing up my phootgraphs to disc's, especially if this is a new virus doing the round's. I have also recently been looking at external hard drives and i think it most probably time to invest in one, as it can be very time consuming using disc's.

Hope you manage to find everything.

It was the number of photos that made me invest in the hard drive. They are under £100 and of course you can claim it as a business expense. I also don't know how long the date stays of good quality when kept on a disc.

There is also thought that you should have two hard drives because it is not unheard of them to develop a fault :panic:

[notts]

Nightmare!

Not virus related but last month my darling husband dropped my laptop :mad: I hadn't backed up since April. It meant family photos lost and a lot of recreation of work for my childminding work. Everything is now fully backed up!

anyone wanting any online backup, my hubby distrubutes it

[JCrakers]

Thanks for that :thumbsup:

Mines backed up regulary as dh is a comp geek :D His life revolves around computers and he used to work in internet security so has great joy in 'messing about' with my laptop. YAWN

His Mum is always sending us spam emails that she's received either with jokes or spam info and he has a right go at her. She doesn't listen and he gets so wound up...lol

Glad you managed to get most of your data back. :)

[hectors house]

Yes so relieved to get it all back, I had resigned myself over the weekend that "our man" wouldn't manage to retrieve it but then kept remembering photos that I just can't replace, like last one of us with my grandad!

Think I am going to go back to printing important pics and putting in album - at least only a fire or flood can destroy them.

Terrified to download anything now - did anyone download something on here about a month ago - something like a version of ******** for planning and observations on a free trial? I downloaded it, but then it wouldn't work and I didn't like the look of the programme - the manufacturer was unknown, so I deleted it - has anyone else had a virus like the one I have had after downloading this programme (I know I am clutching at straws and apologise to the manufacturers/author of this software if it had nothing to do with this)?

[kel1983]

I back mine up regularly onto external hard drive. But unfortunatly these are sometimes not reliable.

[The Juggler]

thank you hon. just doing mine. like you it's always something on the to do list and think its been well over a year.

sorry this happened to you :(

[foxy lady]

Hi my other half works for a huge IT company and is responsible for keeping this sort of stuff at a min, i showed him this message and he has provided this password has been provided by Symantec allegedly recovered from one of the viruses.



These types of attack seem to be on the increase and it is important to ensure that antivirus, spyware and network security in place and up to date. Our files are backed up to the network, but these could be at risk depending on the nature and capability of any malicious code.



Be safe on the Internet following best practive e.g.



If you get an e-mail with an attachment which you are not expecting, delete it.



Be careful of the web site which you are accessing, pop up windows are an attack vector from compromised web sites which try to trick users to download code or to be redirected to another web site which can infect the computer



For anyone who may have been hit with this, the password below has been provided by Symantec allegedly recovered from one of the viruses.



mf2lro8sw03ufvnsq034jfowr18f3cszc20vmw

[loocyloo]

[QUOTE=AgentTink;1142975]

I already use dropbox for all my childminding work as i find it useful to be able to access this data on different computers, but the free storage you get on dropbox is not enough for all my photographs.

QUOTE]

thank you for the warning.

agent tink - i have been looking at dropbox, but was worried about how secure it was, especially if i put childminding stuff on it...i'm not so bothered about my generic paperwork been seen, but do you put stuff that identifies your families on there? i'm not very technically minded - how does it work?!

i upload all my photos onto snapfish. in theory i do it everytime i download them, inpractice, every couple of months. then i should be able to access them at any point, should i need to, plus i use snapfish for creating photobooks etc.

[hectors house]

Thank you Foxy for one of the passwords, don't think that was the one "my chap" used to unlock mine, as he said it was only about 25 characters long.

"He" also warned me about pop up windows - you shouldn't click on the yes, no or the X button at top as whole pop up can be booby trapped - you should press Alt, Ctrl & Del and delete it from the task manager.

I am so paranoid now think I will save photos to CD, memory stick and external hard drive as well as printing out favourites for album.

I worry about saving to an external website - what would happen if they closed down?

[Pauline]

It is not just computer virusus , we lost all our stuff including photos some years ago when our hard drive broke. No one could get them back, we lost all the ones of our new born granddaughter, they were irreplaceable :(

[hectors house]

It is not just computer virusus , we lost all our stuff including photos some years ago when our hard drive broke. No one could get them back, we lost all the ones of our new born granddaughter, they were irreplaceable :(

Good point Pauline - we got the external hard drive about 4 years ago when the power button got stuck in on our computer and fried the hard drive - nearly lost all photos that time - we started up well on backing everything up but as you can see quickly lapsed!

[Lady Haha]

thanks for this warning! I have an external drive, but I haven't backed up for a couple of years! I will get this done tonight!

Is there an easy way of 'backing up'? Is there a button you can just press to 'back up your computer' in one click?

[sarah707]

It's scary the amount of customers who tell me they have broken laptops ... viruses etc and ask for replacement e-books :eek:

Always back up somewhere - try dropbox or skydrive (via hotmail) or google has a free back up ... plus onto an external hard drive just in case.

Keep a password protected list of passwords safe too just in case you lose your hard drive so you can get back into things.

I am pleased you got all your work back HH xx

[FussyElmo]

[QUOTE=AgentTink;1142975]

I already use dropbox for all my childminding work as i find it useful to be able to access this data on different computers, but the free storage you get on dropbox is not enough for all my photographs.

QUOTE]

thank you for the warning.

agent tink - i have been looking at dropbox, but was worried about how secure it was, especially if i put childminding stuff on it...i'm not so bothered about my generic paperwork been seen, but do you put stuff that identifies your families on there? i'm not very technically minded - how does it work?!

i upload all my photos onto snapfish. in theory i do it everytime i download them, inpractice, every couple of months. then i should be able to access them at any point, should i need to, plus i use snapfish for creating photobooks etc.



I was going to use dropbox but it was hacked a couple of weeks back i dont think much is safe nowadays from the hackers.

Remember also that malware attacks are on the increase so you need malware protection too as it gets right past avg. sayong that the last bad virus we got was one attached to an avg undate :panic:

Also to all your fb users (like me) it one of the worse for hiding virus in especially the apps with what does your name mean etc etc :thumbsup:

[AgentTink]

thank you for the warning.

agent tink - i have been looking at dropbox, but was worried about how secure it was, especially if i put childminding stuff on it...i'm not so bothered about my generic paperwork been seen, but do you put stuff that identifies your families on there? i'm not very technically minded - how does it work?!

i upload all my photos onto snapfish. in theory i do it everytime i download them, inpractice, every couple of months. then i should be able to access them at any point, should i need to, plus i use snapfish for creating photobooks etc.[/QUOTE]


I dont really have anything with personal details on as i tend to hand write all my observations and other such forms. But i do make alot of preset forms, and obviously have all my policies, and all my NVQ 3 coursework. I also save all sorts of activity ideas i find and Ofsted documents that i have found useful. I would hate for something to happen to my computer and all the useful documents i use to be deleted and for me to have to find them all over again.

[Daisy1956]

Thanks for the warning, I am now off to backup onto hard drive. I did it a few weeks ago but with the hols I have more photos that I would hate to loose. I don't know anything about online backup so I would value any info or thoughts about it. How much it costs , which you would recommend, easy to use etc.

[PixiePetal]

I am pretty useless with my PC and laptop but do manage to back up the most important stuff to disc and update regularly.

Also put all my policies etc on a memory stick :thumbsup: these are my most important things

I don't use it for photos - they are on discs or cards until I go to Boots and put them on discs :o