{"id":5815,"date":"2014-06-19T13:10:02","date_gmt":"2014-06-19T20:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=5815"},"modified":"2025-07-21T14:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T21:30:32","slug":"today-show-cryptolocker-continues-to-hold-data-hostage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/today-show-cryptolocker-continues-to-hold-data-hostage\/","title":{"rendered":"Today Show: Cryptolocker Continues to Hold Data Hostage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-82529\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/samsam-ransomware.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/samsam-ransomware.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/samsam-ransomware-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/samsam-ransomware-1024x583.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/samsam-ransomware-768x437.jpg 768w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/samsam-ransomware-560x319.jpg 560w, https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/samsam-ransomware-220x124.jpg 220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"bzdropcap\">Last October, we wrote a blog post about a new piece of ransomeware called <a href=\"\/blog\/recent-malware-forcing-victims-to-pay-for-data-retrieval\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cryptolocker<\/a>. At the time, it was a relatively new virus, and was not yet affecting as many people as it is now. As of March, Geek.com reports that Cryptolocker&#8217;s &#8220;masterminds have raked in somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million, and that&#8217;s because around 40% of victims are paying the ransom.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A few days ago, the Today Show <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/video\/cryptolocker-virus-hijacks-personal-data-for-ransom-256673859637\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ran a report on Cryptolocker<\/a> as well. According to the Today Show report, &#8220;You can back up your computer and use anti-virus software, but the best defense, experts say, is caution with unknown attachments and emails.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>How Backblaze Can Help<\/h2>\n<p>Since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Backblaze<\/a> is an unlimited and continuously running online backup solution that is not locally connected to your machine, all of the data files on your computer and external hard drives get backed up and are available for restore.<\/p>\n<p>That means that if you get hit with the Cryptolocker malware and your computer locks up, you can simply order a Backblaze restore with all of your data on it, reinstall your operating system and any programs that you had installed (including Backblaze), and then you&#8217;re back up and running! That means you won&#8217;t need to pay Cryptolocker hundreds if not thousands of dollars, and you&#8217;ll have all of your photos, videos, music, work documents, and anything else you&#8217;ve created safely back on your computer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Backblaze has already saved multiple customers from losing their data to Cryptolocker:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\"><p>Dads computer got virused with &#8220;CryptoLocker&#8221; a ransom virus that encrypts files and makes you pay for key. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/backblaze\">@backblaze<\/a> saved him <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23backup&amp;src=hash\">#backup<\/a><br \/>\n\u2014 John (@Drake4444444) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Drake4444444\/statuses\/431213240031256578\">February 5, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;d like to remind all of our users and blog readers to stay vigilant and use best practices when using the internet and email clients. Hopefully you&#8217;ll never be hit with Cryptolocker, but we&#8217;ll be here for you if you do.<\/p>\n<p><em>Note:<\/em> for the latest news on ransomware threats make sure to read <a href=\"\/blog\/locker-cryptolocker-progeny-awakens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/locker-cryptolocker-progeny-awakens\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last October, we wrote a blog post about a new piece of ransomeware called Cryptolocker. At the time, it was a relatively new virus, and was not yet affecting as many people as it is now. As of March, Geek.com reports that Cryptolocker&#8217;s &#8220;masterminds have raked in somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million, and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/today-show-cryptolocker-continues-to-hold-data-hostage\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Today Show: Cryptolocker Continues to Hold Data Hostage<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":82529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[475],"tags":[471,351],"class_list":["post-5815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ransomware","tag-businessbackup","tag-ransomware","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Today Show: Cryptolocker Continues to Hold Data Hostage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last October, we wrote a blog post about a new piece of ransomeware called Cryptolocker. At the time, it was a relatively new virus, and was not yet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Today Show: Cryptolocker Continues to Hold Data Hostage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last October, we wrote a blog post about a new piece of ransomeware called Cryptolocker. At the time, it was a relatively new virus, and was not yet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/today-show-cryptolocker-continues-to-hold-data-hostage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage &amp; Cloud Backup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/backblaze\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-19T20:10:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-21T21:30:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/samsam-ransomware.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Yev\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@YevP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@backblaze\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Yev\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Today Show: Cryptolocker Continues to Hold Data Hostage","description":"Last October, we wrote a blog post about a new piece of ransomeware called Cryptolocker. 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