Ransomware
Am I difficult? When my employer changes a holiday from one date to another, is it wrong for me to point out that bus service on the “come to work” day will be arduous? HR did advise me that I can negotiate flexible hours with my superior; pity that the bus ride will take four hours round trip. Just the price to pay for not driving a car into the city center.
I’ll work it out. Maybe with a longer holiday than first requested. All will come to rest.
A bad day for one secretary. She called down, this morning, to mention that none of her documents could be opened. I went up, and started simply, with a “repair” of the software installation. No change. Second time around, I tried to open one of her documents on my computer. OK. Something wasn’t right here. The time stamp on ALL her files had been modified. And then the “letter” popped up. Something called CryptoWall had taken control of her laptop, and until she paid a ransom to some anonymous website, the files would remain encrypted.
It gets worse. We are a networked enterprise, and all of her files on the server were also encrypted. As well as a good number of the files in a common share. Not what a sysadmin wants to hear. Remove the machine from all outside contact. Install updated antivirus software (had to loan my neat little green Mint USB key as a temporary store. Scan for the afternoon. Let the user know that things are not good, and that she may have to recall from memory a lot of work. More tomorrow.
