[PPRAANet] Fwd: Ounce of prevention, as there is no cure... from BG in SD

[Dick-W0RAA]

I received the info below from a good friend in CA.  Take it for what it's worth.  I now it's off topic, but felt a word to the wise might be appreciated.  

Dick - W0RAA


Begin forwarded message:

> From: Bruce Gavin 
> Date: January 24, 2016 at 8:39:30 AM MST
> 
> 
> All,
> 
> The Cryptowall 4.0 ransom ware is THE most lethal virus in the wild.
> It literally destroys everything it can see, including network drives, flash and attached USB drives.
> 
> The ransom is $700 for the first 3 days, then jumps to $1400 after that.
> You have to pay with BITCOIN and there is no guaranteed you will ever get the recovery code.
> There is NO recovery from Cryptowall 4.  They encrypt your files with an NSA-level 2,048 bit scheme that cannot be broken.
> 
> PLEASE do a complete backup of all your files and data to an external USB disk.
> The Western Digital 2TB My Passport Ultra can be had from B&H Photo in NYC, free shipping and no tax.
> Mine is on the UPS truck coming to me now...
> 
> If you are running on Win7 or higher, you can use the built-in BACKUP to image your system to an external drive.
> You then follow the bouncing ball and let it create a recovery boot DVD.
> WinXP users will need to GHOST their systems, or use a different imaging product.
> 
> I just completed rebuilding a client who was infected with Cryptowall.
> Her data was saved because she uses a server, and I have it backed up to a server directory not reachable by her workstation.
> Cryptowall destroys everything it can see.  Don't leave the external drive attached any longer than needed for a backup.
> 
> --Bruce Gavin
>