Is Ransomware a Threat to Windows 8 PCs?

Judging by the large number of warnings that have popped up within recent months regarding ransomware, it goes without saying that cybercriminals are doing all they can to infect machines with it.

But how does it fare on the new Windows 8 platform?

Symantec researchers couldn’t live without knowing the answer, so they tried running a few ransomware samples currently circulating in-the-wild in a default Windows 8 environment.

While many of the samples did a poor job of taking the system hostage, there was one variant, Trojan.Ransomlock.U that managed to successfully lock the computer and display a message to the end-user demanding payment to regain access.

It’s never a good idea to pay the ransom fee should your computer ever fall victim to a ransomware attack. Instead, you should look for removal steps online using a secondary PC or smartphone, or take it to a local computer repair shop.

Of course, the best way to handle ransomware would be to do everything in your power to keep your PC from becoming infected in the first place!  So be sure to keep your operating system patched, watch what you click and download online, and run antivirus at all times.

[via Symantec]

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