Microsoft last week released its latest Operating System, Windows 10. There is a scam email circulating claiming to help users download Windows 10 that instead installs ransomware on users' computers in a similar fashion to the CRYPTOLOCKER virus recently distributed in the guise of an Australia Post email.
The scammers are taking advantage of Microsoft's release last week as the operating system is available as a free upgrade to users running Windows 7 or Windows 8.
The scam emails that while looking as if they were coming from Microsoft, were actually being send from Thailand. They're easy to spot because the message includes spelling errors and stray non-English characters.
Downloading the attached file installs ransomware on the user's computer, locking all files and demanding payment within 96 hours to have them unlocked.
To avoid getting scammed, don't click on any attachments you weren't expecting and be wary of download links in email messages from unknown sources.
Microsoft is not distributing Windows 10 via unsolicited emails. Instead, users must reserve a copy of Windows 10 which will be automatically downloaded onto their system.
To defend against these emails, computer security experts say the most important step is to back up your computer daily.
Once ransomware is installed, the easiest and cheapest route to deal with it is to clean the machine and install a recent backup. But if the user doesn't have a current backup, fixing things is a long, and expensive matter.
If you believe you have seen such an email or encountered this virus recently, please give us a call on 08 6365 5603 and we can help you remove this or any other computer virus or malware.
See also
Should I upgrade to Windows 10 now, or wait a while?
HOW TO USE MICROSOFT'S DEFAULT BACKUP TO BACKUP TO AN EXTERNAL DEVICE
HOW TO USE APPLE's TIME MACHINE TO BACKUP TO AN EXTERNAL DEVICE
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:jk:
Has one comment to “Beware of scam emails about downloading Windows 10”
John Kirkby - September 4, 2015
We know nobody likes to pay a ransom but in some cases it may be the cheapest alternative to resolving the situation.
If you are in the situation where you either have no backup of your files or the backup has also been corrupted and it will cost you more than the cost of the ransom to re-create that data, it maybe worth paying the ransom and hoping the crooks decrypt your files as they promise to do.
Before doing so just check if there are earlier “versions” of your files by following these guides
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/previous-versions-files-faq ….. for Windows 7
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-AU/windows-8/how-use-file-history …. for Windows 8
If you use Dropbox or Google Drive for storing documents and pictures you can also go back to previous versions that may not be encryted, using the following
https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2409045?hl=en ….. Google Drive
https://www.dropbox.com/help/11 ….. Dropbox