Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Poll: If you computer's data was held up for ransom, would you pay up?

Jan 9, 2015 10:27AM PST

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Absolutely not. I'd restore from one of my backups.
Jan 9, 2015 11:02AM PST

You'd think that if nothing else convinces folks to backup, this threat would. Funny thing, sometimes folks have to be hit over the head with a sledge hammer before they get the message. Sure is a shame though.

- Collapse -
No way, I would never give in to extortion.
Jan 9, 2015 4:38PM PST

The day I get one of these "ransomware" viruses is the day I DOD-wipe my hard drive and reinstall everything from scratch. Even if I had important files, which were not backed up.

- Collapse -
Unplug computer and insert windows DVD...
Jan 11, 2015 6:22AM PST

I would not trust any data on a computer that was hi-jacked in this way. Lost control of a desktop years ago to a clever programmer pushing pornography in the days before antivirus software. Same answer I would give today-- if your computer came with windows preinstalled, and you don't have a re-install DVD for it,step away from it and call the retailer or company you bought it from, and ask them for a disc to send you one, or borrow one from a friend with an identical computer if possible..If you installed windows then insert your windows DVD and restart your computer.. and I strongly suggest a full format and save no data from hard drive...A second choice is to purchase an antivirus repair DVD,(don't download onto a severely infected computer), or download a repair tool to put on a flash drive, and hopefully re-boot the computer from the flash drive..Did your anti-virus offer to make a repair DVD? Several can make a repair CD/DVD before your computer dies...Power supplies fail, HARD DRIVES DIE!! Save what you can IF anything is worth saving...Best Buy loves to re-format it for you...but I've doe it many times myself for free!

- Collapse -
I will not pay someone a reward for taking my stuff
Jan 13, 2015 4:47AM PST

I've lost my computer and other belongings in a house fire. I know that I can always start over. Besides, your family and loved ones are what matters in a disaster. You're not going to get out of this life with your computer.

- Collapse -
Why bother?
Jan 9, 2015 11:32AM PST

I have over 6,000 photos. Have been taking pics for 45 years, but only as a hobby. They are all backed up on DVD's and kept in a fire proof safe. Ransom? Hell no!!!!

- Collapse -
fire proof safe is not heat proof
Jan 10, 2015 7:17AM PST

I had a friend who thought the same until he had a fire. the fireproof safe worked but it did not prevent heat damage. Lost a whole mess off business records on dvds because they became unusable because of the heat.

- Collapse -
That got my attention
Jan 10, 2015 7:53AM PST

My DVD's shall go into my safety deposit box on Monday. Thanks for the 411.

- Collapse -
What if the bank catches fire?
Jan 10, 2015 7:57AM PST

Dafydd.

- Collapse -
Ah, come on
Jan 10, 2015 11:39AM PST

First of all, Dafydd is a mystery. I don't know what words it stands for, but please don't keep coming up with ways to fray my nerves more than they already are!!!!

- Collapse -
(NT) Yikes!
Jan 11, 2015 6:24AM PST
- Collapse -
no guarantee
Jan 9, 2015 11:36AM PST

no guarantee it would be restored; i keep back-up on several pc and about 5 external drives. i know its too much but i dont have anything else to do and if i look for something, i dont have to look much.

- Collapse -
I was actually hit with Ransomware once.
Jan 9, 2015 12:14PM PST

The first thing I did was reboot to Safe Boot, to try to use a restore point. That didn't work, the little nasty wouldn't let me boot to Safe Boot. So, I whipped out my Emergency Boot Disk for my backup software (True Image 2013), and booted to it.

I turned on my external Hard Drive, and went to my last Back Up, four days prior. Then using the Boot Disk's Linux O/S, I started to restore the last Back Up. Thirty minutes later, my computer was up, and running like the Ransomware never happened.

I do a Full Back Up every Week, on Sundays so I won't forget. I don't leave my external Hard Drive running all the time. Only for Backups. I also Upgrade my Back Up Software every year, and I check for updates every time I Back Up.

It may seem like I put a lot of time, and effort into this, but I don't. I start True Image, check for updates, configure the Backup, and start it. That's it, the software does all the rest automatically. If I want back on the computer while the Back Up is running, I boot up my Lap Top. By the way, I Back Up the Lap Top on Saturdays, so I always have at least one computer free.

This routine has saved me from the Ransomware, a nasty Virus, and two Hard Drive Crashes. I have two Hard Drives in my Desk Top computer. I can also use the Back Up to restore individual files that get corrupted, or accidently deleted.

This is the single most important thing I impart to my clients. A regular Back Up routine can, and will pay for its self the first time you need to use it. It's a lot less expensive to restore from a recent Back Up, than to have me come in, and reinstall everything on the computer, and rebuild their data.

The moral of the story, in case you haven't guessed it by now, is to Back Up, and to do it often. There are a lot of great tools out there for working on your Hard Drive, but a recent Back Up is always your best insurance.

Regards,
Mr. Windows

- Collapse -
Ransomeware
Jan 9, 2015 12:48PM PST

I would never pay a ransome, not to Adobe and not to lesser bad guys.
I back up daily and if ever hit with ransomeware, I would just look to it as an opportunity to reformat my hard disk and reinstall everything clean.

- Collapse -
I will not pay tribute to criminals.
Jan 9, 2015 2:32PM PST

I'm not paying anyone to reward their criminal activity. When will large economic interests start to take malware seriously? At some point it WILL have an effect on the economy.
I keep my really important data in several places, encrypted on my PC, on removable media and in the cloud. I do a backup image periodically with Windows backup and with Easus Todo. I also keep long term data such as photos on removable media and in the cloud. I now purchase music and some software from Amazon which automatically lives in the cloud. Amazon allows me to store music from other sources in there also. I do STEAM gaming so those games are always available to reload from that cloud but I may have to keep backups of my user files to save game progress.My main email utility is GMAIL so I am not dependent on my PC storage for most of that.
Having said all that I am wondering about the safety of files stored in a cloud repository such as GOOGLE DRIVE. Crytowall X may have the capability to corrupt remote files as well. GOOGLE DRIVE is attractive because it syncs your files across devices. To be safe one may have to sign out of GOOGLE when not in use.

- Collapse -
As everyone Else Has Said - BACKUPS!
Jan 9, 2015 3:40PM PST

Ransomware can easily get on your system due to phishing emails, your kid trying not to spend money on A/V software (happened to someone at the office) and trying out some new download on even a name-brand download site. One way to avoid this is to stick to name-brand software, even if you have to pay a little upfront. One of the bosses told his kid to load a/v software on his two PCs and the ransomware kicked in saying it would not let him use the computer until they paid for the fully paid version of their product. Criminal? To me it is but this crook took the a/v community to court saying that their software has an extreme marketing technique that does what the product says. I disagree because the malware that the software found was bogus to begin with.

By the way, if you want to treat this as an opportunity to refresh your computer back to the factory-default state, there are other reasons to do backups such as accidentally deleting a file/folder or messing up the data. Even a RAID system can't handle that one.

- Collapse -
Wow, what a good bunch
Jan 10, 2015 3:33AM PST

Wow, 95% said no, they would not pay the ransom. Really? 95%?? I know Cnet readers are a pretty sophisticated lot, but I still find it hard to believe that fully 95% do daily or weekly backups religiously (or have nothing worth losing). I wonder what that number would really be if actually confronted. There was a good article about this recently in the NY Times. Interesting to note, usually, the hackers are very good about unlocking systems after receiving the ransom. Apparently, they realize that people are less likely to pay if the hackers develop a bad reputation regarding restoration. Imagine that. A criminal with a "conscience".

- Collapse -
O Don't Think it is "Conscience"
Jan 10, 2015 9:51AM PST

If word spread (and it quickly does) that paying results in a total loss anyway, the criminals ploy fails immediately. But, even so, most people know that they can get their stuff back with a lot of effort. Those of us who have seen this sort of thing know that, with a bit of work and patience (and some outside help for those who are not technical) you can completely reverse the damage. The key for the criminal to make this work is to be able to get the money while covering their tracks so the FBI doesn't break down their door (or whatever their country's police force is). I would rather give $100 to Symantec, McAfee or other experts to fix the problem rather than give $10 to the perpetrator of this. If it becomes successful for the criminal, then they will keep doing this.

- Collapse -
Not a chance in h...
Jan 10, 2015 4:51AM PST

Never would pay up. I have a clean cloned copy of my hard drive separate from system and not hooked up to anything. Basically stored in a box in my desk.
All my private passwords etc are encrypted in Norton vault, ahh well pretty safe in there and changed regularly.
I just switch drives re-clone to ransomed drive done, which writes over every thing.
I then unhook the clone for safe keeping, Oh and doing a ccleaner drive shredder before re-cloning is good idea too.Then do updates from microsloft and reset password safe.
then change all passwords in it and on all my sites etc. A little work and they are them ignored as they really have nothing of value anymore.
Some people my not have the ability to do this, but is my fail safe to any infection, malware, high-jacker, etc that I cannot fix easily...
You may be able to get a local shop to set this up for you and hard drives are fairly cheap these days. massive files and folders like movies, music, work documents etc should be in at least 2 separate places anyway.

- Collapse -
nope
Jan 10, 2015 7:15AM PST

naw, I would not pay up. besides, I do not have to worry about it since I mainly run linux.