CryptoLocker | The Kiddnaper Virus

Have you heard about a new malware named CryptoLocker? 
CryptoLocker is a nasty Ransomware male-ware which is targeting computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. CryptoLocker disguises itself as a legitimate email attachment.

Once your computer is infected, it encrypts all your files on your computer, then when it is done it will start targeting the network drives too. 
Then you have one option to get back your file - Pay up or lose your data.

The kidnappers (The Hackers behind the virus) started asking for 100USD or 100EUR. But in my opinion they found out that people are willing to pay more to get their files back so now your computer will be locked up and then you will be asked to make a ransom payment. The payment is ranged between $100 and $700 or 2 bitcoins, to get your files back.

They even lunched a decryption service platform to facilitate the payment. The service is available on http://93.189.44.187/  

The reason why the hackers has launched the Decryption Service is because the antivirus companies are on red alert about CryptoLocker maleware and they have released updates for their users, that can detect and remove the infection or the registry keys from the system which is actually required to pay the ransom and decryption process. So if malwar will get deleted, neither victim will the decryption keys ever, neithj the criminal will get paid for it. 

The decryption service works by uploading one of the encrypted files to the mentioned website (which is acting as Customer Service for the victims) then you will get an order number. 

It will then prompt the user to buy the private key by paying 10 Bitcoins or approximately $2,200 USD.
Once the payment is made, the website will allow the user to download the decryption private key and a decrypter tool that can be used to decrypt all CryptoLocker encrypted files on the system.

Interesting enough, if you already paid the ransom amount, you will be provided with the private key every time you go to their website and enter your order number. At the end they want their "customers" I mean victims happy.

CryptoLocker has been already spreading in Europe, Middle East, North America and Asia Pacific. Almost 65% of the victims are in the US.

Once you are hit with CryptoLocker there is no tool that can decrypt your files. Even if you updated your antivirus and cleaned your computer from the virus itself, your files are gone forever. Unless you have a backup on an external drive that was not connected to your computer when your computer got infected.

If you have no backup then not much of an option here. You either pay the kidnappers (do you really trust them not to do it again or ask for more money?) or you forget about your files.

Therefore, if you are reading this now and you are not a victim. Please make sure you do a backup right after you finish reading this article and make sure it is not connected to your computer or to the network.

Bitdefender (The Antivirus Firm) has just released a tool to protect your files from CryptoLocker. You can Download Anti-CryptoLocker here 

Powering On Nexus One Without The Power Button

Powering On Nexus One Without The Power Button

My Nexus One phone has been suffering for a long time now, but lately the power button stopped responding. I knew it is a matter of time that the phone will be turned off somehow and I won't be able to turn it back on.

I bought a new phone Galaxy SIII and started planning the migration.
First of all I had to remove the SIM card from the nexus one without turning off the phone otherwise I won't be able to access my apps and stuff.

I had to practice removing the SIM card without removing the battery, I do have another Nexus one "which I borrowed from a friend of mine 2 months ago to do some testing after he fed up with it and migrated to another phone" :) 

After a few exercises I mastered the removal by sliding the battery a little bit "30 degrees" then removing the SIM card.

SIM was removed successfully and the Nexus One was still powered on.
After removing the SIM card I went to the store to cut the SIM it to Micro-SIM to fit in the new phone.

The SIM is now working on the S3 and migrating apps was very smooth.

The other day I forgot to charge the poor Nexus One and found it dead on the desk.

Then I wanted to go through the extra mile and try to find a way to power it on.

After a while I found out that if you do the below steps you will be able to turn it on again without the power button.

1. Get the Nexus One, a USB charging cable and find a power source.
2. Plug the USB cable into the power source and connect it to the phone
3. Wait for the charging indicator LED to come on.
4. Disconnect the battery (leaving the USB cable connected)
5. Wait for the charging indicator LED to turn off
6. Reconnect the battery: the phone will turn on

Note: Step 6 above must be done before the charging-indicator starts flashing. This will take 2-3 seconds from the time you've disconnected the battery (Step 4). Then the phone will indicate the battery was disconnected by flashing the indicator and then the indicator will become solid again. You have to reconnect the battery while the indicator is off.


Do you have an Android Phone? Does the above method work for you?
If it does, please reply and mention the device model. Thanks!

Are you a blogger? Registering a domain with Google?

Are you a blogger? Are you thinking about registering a domain with Google?
Then yo need to be prepared to be surprised with the technical issue that I will describe in this post.

The other day, I have registered a domain name for my blog www.thevirtualtravelers.com after proceeding with the payment I got an email instructing me to click on a link to setup my domain.

One click and I was there, entering a username and password only to receive an the following error message:

"Server error We are unable to process your request at this time, please try again later."

I came later to try again but with no luck!! I slept on it for a night but still getting the same error message every time I do the instructions.

I Googled the error to find out that many customers were complaining about the issue and some of them has been complaining on Google forum for 8 months! Still to-date, there is no reply on that post. "I am planning to post a link to this post when I am done"

On another post I found out the below 

"Hi everyone, sorry I haven't posted about this but I figured out the problem.

You have to follow the link you got in your Google Apps e-mail (or the one below replaced with your website where it says YOURWEBSITE.com

https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/setup/YOURWEBSITE.com

Then you want to press the ‘Cant access your account?’ link, and then ‘reset the administrator password’ link on the next page. 

From there, it’ll send a link to your e-mail, and you should be fine with the rest.

Let me know if you've fixed it.

Kind Regards,

Ben."

Of course another user "Top Contributor" had to point out the name of the administrator account which was "bloggeradmin"

I walked through the password reset procedure and I was able to finally login to my control panel. Of course the first thing I did was to change the username.

While I am inside the "Users" section of the cpanel I got this notification:

You have reached the 1 user limit for this organization. To add more users, please purchase Google Apps for Business.

No wonder I was not able to create a new user with the instructions provided by the email received after the payment!

This problem didn't appear until Google decided to stop the Google Apps for Free and since that date everyone who try to buy a domain name from Google through Blogger.com  will be facing this issue.

Google needs to address this issue ASAP. The solution shouldn't be that complicated after all! Right?

Updates 22-6-2013: I guess I was the last person to buy a domain from withing blogger.com because I logged in today to buy another domain only to find out that this feature is not there anymore.