Ransomware: Should you pay or not? by Kim Komando

Last-minute holiday shopping is enough to leave anyone breathless.

Hackers know how stressful this time can be and will do their best to trick you into downloading dangerous malware. I'm talking about a particular kind of malware that will encrypt or otherwise lock all of your files and threaten to throw away the key unless you pay the hackers off.

These programs are called ransomware and they help computer hackers steal millions of dollars worldwide.

Imagine that every file on your computer was locked by hackers. Your only two options are to pay the hackers an untraceable ransom or to lose every file on your computer and start over again.

Now before you take an "I don't negotiate with terrorists" stance, let's think for a moment: All of your family photos, videos and contact information is probably stored on your computer.

Today's tip asks one question. If a hacker is holding your computer hostage, should you pay a ransom to get it back?

If you think that hackers would never be sneaky enough to get a virus onto your computer, think again. The best way to infect a computer with ransomware is to trick someone into installing it straight onto their PC.

Bonus tip: These scams can fool anybody. Learn how to stay safe.

You'd be surprised at who has been tricked into infecting themselves with ransomware.

A Police Department in Swansea, Massachusetts, for example, had its computer systems infected with the powerful CryptoLocker malware and had to pay hackers to get its files back. The police department infected its computer systems by downloading and running malware embedded in an email attachment. The Swansea Police Department had to choose between paying hackers or losing all of its department's records.

The department chose to pay off the hackers.

People who decide to pay off a hacker's ransom face a whole new wave of issues. Ransomware will usually "charge" you at least several hundred dollars to unlock your files.

Just yesterday, the all-new OphionLocker ransomware hit the scene. If your computer was infected by OphionLocker, you'd be directed to buy back your computer with a bitcoin. A bitcoin is digital, untraceable currency currently valued at around $350.

Hackers like bitcoins because they can be bought and sold without being tracked by any law enforcement agencies. So to recover from an OphionLocker infection, you'd have to exchange your money into a format easier for hackers to hide and then hope that they actually unlock back your files.

So let's say you manage to convert your cash into a bitcoin, pay off the hacker and they give you the keys to unlock your computer. Chances are good that your name or contact information will go on a list.

That list includes every other person who fell victim to a hacker's scam. Then don't be at all surprised if they target you again when they build the next version of OphionLocker.

Believe it or not, one simple step could protect you even if hackers have breached your computer's gates. The product is called Carbonite and I'm proud to have them as a sponsor of the Kim Komando Show.

Carbonite backs up your computer's hard drive through an entirely secure online connection.
I have Carbonite installed on my work, home and family's computers. "Now Kim," I'm sure some of you are saying, "are you saying that you — America's Digital Goddess — would let ransomware past your anti-virus programs?"

Here's my answer: I'm not sure. If a hacker was sneaky enough to get malware on my family's computers, though, there's no way in heck that I'd pay them to give me my stuff back.