August 8th 2014
If your computer has been rendered unusable by Cryptolocker – the nasty variety of malware that encrypts your files and refuses to unlock them until you pay a ransom – a solution offered by two network security companies may be able to solve your problem.
FireEye and Fox-IT are jointly offering an online portal for victims of at least one variant of the malware strain. According to their blog, users can visit a portal which will attempt to generate the private key required to decrypt affected files, which you can then run on your computer to decrypt all infected files on your hard drive.
This is not a guaranteed solution for all incidences of Cryptolocker encryption, but depends on the variant of Cryptolocker as well as other factors. It is also worth noting that users will be required to upload a file (preferably not of a sensitive nature) to the portal in order to generate the secret key, and also download the Decryptolocker ‘recovery program’ to use with that secret key.
