how to fight crypto locker on a large environment

With more than 2,100 employees and 2500 guest scientists, many of whom use their own devices for scientific research and 40% of the systems and applications with decentralised management, cyber security is one of PSI’s biggest challenges. We spoke with Björn Abt, IT Security Officer at PSI. In order to protect the continuity of its large research facilities and infrastructure, the organisation decided to focus on creating a culture of cyber security. Cyber security challenges have increased enormously in recent years. And when those measures fail to block ransomware like Cryptolocker, having robust backup and recovery tools can mitigate the damage caused by an attack.The Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) is the largest research centre in Switzerland. Users then see a message informing them the files have been encrypted and instructing them how to pay the ransom to get the decryption code.Ĭryptolocker prevention requires awareness among users and powerful anti ransomware technology that can prevent users from clicking on malicious links or opening malicious attachments. When the attachment is opened, the Cryptolocker virus encrypts a large number of files - presentations, spreadsheets, Word docs, PDFs, images and many others.

The attachment may resemble an invoice, shipping notice, fax report or Office document. In a Cryptolocker attack, the virus arrives at a computer via an email or spam message that contains a weaponized attachments or links to a malicious website. What happens during a Cryptolocker attack?

The original Cryptolocker virus first appeared in 2013 and was permanently neutralized in May 2014, but variations of Cryptolocker ransomware - some using the Cryptolocker name - continue to plague individuals and organizations today. Cryptolocker is a ransomware virus that encrypts files on an infected computer and demands payment for key to decrypt the files.

How to fight crypto locker on a large environment