In the last few days rogue software CryptoLocker and GameOver Zeus have received a lot of attention following an announcement by the US and European officials that they have temporarily managed to disrupt the system used by the malware.
And according to the UK’s National Crime Agency, UK citizens will have a two-week window to reduce the threat by strengthening their computer’s protection.

BullGuard already protects you against these two viruses: it detects them and successfully cleans the infected machines.  

However, you do need to ensure that you have the latest updates installed and that BullGuard is turned on. Do this, and you can be assured that you’re safe.

Keep it safe

However, if these conditions aren’t met and as a result CryptoLocker manages to encrypt your data, no one will be able to decrypt it and you won’t be able to access your files. As a general rule, it’s always a good idea to regularly backup your files.

A short summary of CryptoLocker and GameOver Zeus

If CryptoLocker finds its way onto your computer it silently contacts its control and command servers and then receives instructions to begin encrypting files with specified extensions, for example Word and PDF documents. It’s known as ransomware because the victim’s files are encrypted and in order to decrypt them a ransom has to be paid.

GameOver Zeus on the other hand spies for personal information, such as banking credentials, and sends this data back to a botnet system. As well as losing personal data the infected computer also becomes part of the botnet.