Incident Response, Malware, TDR

Massachusetts cops hit by CryptoLocker, pay $750 ransom

The troublesome CryptoLocker malware, which recently locked up more than 12,000 computers with ransomware in less than a week, has claimed another victim: a Massachusetts police department.

CBS Boston reported Monday that the Swansea Police Department chose to fork over a $750 ransom to unlock files on its network after an employee opened an email containing the nasty trojan.

CryptoLocker, which came on the radar in September, infiltrates and then encrypts files in computers and any mapped network drives. Once the files are locked, it demands a MoneyPak or Bitcoin payment.

Formerly, if a user did not pay a ransom of two Bitcoins within three days, their files were said to be locked forever. However, the developers recently updated CryptoLocker to allow later recovery at a fee of 10 Bitcoins.

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