CryptoLocker is gaining quite a bit of traction recently. Once infected (usually via email attachments but other methods have been reported) it begins encrypting individual files that match certain filetypes (pdf, doc, xls, dwg, sld, the list goes on). It will encrypt any non-system files on your PC which your user has write access to. It will also encrypt files on networked drives that it has write access to. After it thinks it is done encrypting everything it displays a message letting you know that everything is encrypted and demands $300 to decrypt the files starting with a 100 hour countdown. After the 100 hours is up the virus uninstalls itself and you won't be able to get your files back. AT ALL. The good news is, if you have backups you can restore those after you have cleaned the virus. You can also pay the $300 and it will actually decrypt the files, but the actual end-point of the money is unknown. It could go to a single person, or a terrorist organization.
from YSK about CryptoLocker redditThe mastermind behind the malicious software known as CryptoLocker has been identified and an international effort to shut the malware down has freed hundreds of thousands from its clutches. The FBI has identified Slavik as Evgeniy Mikhailovitch Bogachev, a Russian national whose whereabouts remain a mystery. Prosecutors say he is responsible for two of the most sophisticated and destructive forms of malicious software in existence — Gameover Zeus and CryptoLocker The operation to dismantle the network began on May 7 in Donetsk and Kiev, Ukraine, two cities convulsing with political violence. Ukrainian police seized and copied key computers in the network, prosecutors said. On May 30, the FBI, working with police around the world, kicked off a 72-hour operation to shut down every command-and-control computer in the Zeus network.
from Argus