Gameover Zeus Panic.

[Camy]

Last Monday, 2nd June, the National Crime Agency (the UK's version of the FBI but with tea and scones) said they'd managed to get us a two week grace period before a huge botnet delivered Gameover Zeus - as nastier a bit of malware as you're ever likely to see - which would a) empty our bank accounts, and failing that: b) encrypt our hard drives until we paid a ransom to some shadowy Russian (Evgeniy Bogachev) - who might, if he had time, deign to un-encrypt it.

"In concert with the FBI and other International agencies, the National Crime Agency has crippled the evildoers botnet," the newsreader read, but, she added with a smile, "it'll be back up and running in two weeks." A film clip of an FBI chap saying 'imagine the worst scenario you've seen in science fiction films ... well, this'll be much worse,' wasn't helpful. Neither was the admission that the Russian involved was still on the loose - though he is on the FBI's Cyber division's most wanted list. Apparently, Mr.Bogachev likes boating and might be found on his yacht.

Naturally, the website you had to go to to get the fix crashed. It would, as this was on the national news, and everyone with a windows computer panicked - not a word, please, Pecman!

Finally, I went to Symantec: HERE, and downloaded their 'fix.' I ran it, and nada. Not a sausage. I'm clean!

It's well worth checking your computers, not opening any attachments unless you're expecting them, and make sure your virus definitions are up to date. Apparently folks in the USA have lost a lot of money, and Gameover Zeus is spreading fast.

Here's another site for the relevant software.

Also, the first instance of Android malware encrypting data on the SD card has been discovered: read more here

[Nick Deverill]

Laptop and large PC done and both clear. I'd have been annoyed if they weren't as they both have virus protection and I hardly ever open a zip file unless I'm convinced about the source.