I only stopped in here to thank you guys for your time and let you know what I decided to do.....

I'll set the remaining facts straight for those that would prefer to make up your own.  

I got the Teslacrypt virus.  I'm not sure how.  I haven't had a virus in years.  Water under the bridge at this point......

This isn't the normal kind of virus most of us have gotten from a friend's email or some bad advertising malware.  It encrypted all of my files, without the key it's just like deleting them.  As far as I was aware before this, the concept was something out of the movies.  I didn't know that there were viruses that severe that regular people could get.

I'm an independent consultant.  I got the job in a hurry, and had to get set up to work from home in a hurry.  It's been a-holes and elbows since then, for 6 months now.  The only assistance I've had from the companies IT was the installation of the AV software.  It's a small company, even the IT guy is an outside contractor.

I checked my "continuous backup drive" and the dates on the backup file that I believed contained my files was old, this led me to believe something went wrong and I did not have a recent backup.  I'm a mechanical engineer, not a computer specialist.

I decided not to pay the ransom.  Mostly because I don't have the means where I live to easily get bitcoins to pay the ransom.  Danny H, who offered to help me, said that was probably the smartest thing to do anyway and I thanked him for his help.

I found when I restored from the backup that in fact it was an incremental backup, and I had files from my last backup from the end of March.  I left for a prototype build in S. Illinois right after that and didn't really author too many new files between then and now, so I'm not losing a lot - but I didn't know that when I came here in a panic.

Why did I come here?  Someone was pretty hot and bothered about that.  Well like I said, I was having a tough time figuring out how to buy the coins with the payment means that I have available.  And so many places that claim to be exchanges that I signed up for and haven't heard anything since.  

And I lack patience, and like many of us, I use the internet for information gathering - Don't you?  Or do you just automatically know everything, Mr BCWinning?

Whatever, you're a chump for saying what you did.  I'm no crook and I found the advice I was looking for.  So it seems I'm a little smarter than you think.  And BTW, I'm not a troll either, I don't know what gave you that idea.  I was in a panic over lost data in a critical portion of a prototype development, and I'm the entire engineering department on this, so I had a right to become a little panicked.

To the rest of you that were helpful, thanks again very much.

In the end, I lost alot of time, was able to recover the Bill of Material from the hackers "free trial" download, and so only lost several other files that I can recreate.  I got off super lucky.

This won't happen again, as soon as my computer and data are back up and running IT is going to get me connected to their network for regular backups.

Thanks again everyone

Toddball

PS  Danny just saw your post...  So I guess they are the trolls you warned about.  Hah.  I don't like being accused of trolling.  Live and Learn.  You guys are alright by me.  Good Luck

Wow man.  Your conjecture is pretty amazing here.

I didn't see where Danny said in the forum that I wouldn't meet with him, but the truth is, he's 450+ miles from where I am so how exactly was I going to meet him?  It's pure coincidence that my place of work is actually in Illinois, and seems not far from where Danny was located.

I'm the guy that got ripped off, by the hacker that infected my computer with a virus.

Some of you need to read more, think less.  I did exactly tell you what virus is was, it's called TeslaCrypt and seems to be a newer version of the cryptolocker virus.

In the end, I thanked Danny much for his time, and he told me that not paying the ransom was the right call.  More on that in a minute.....

Scratch that, TruCoin seems a bust.

All I got was a "you have been added to our list" message and I read that people waited and waited and nothing happened.

I live in the middle of nowhere in Northern MI, so I can't just walk out and meet folks for a transaction.

Any suggestions for a specific site that seems to have quick turnaround?

Thanks

TB

Hey ALL

Again, thanks for your help so far.

Yeah, some of you haven't read thru the parts where I stated that thought I was backing up continuously, that I'm an outside consultant and therefore fell thru the cracks of IT backups.  I had antivirus, and have run lots of malware now and the threat appears to be removed.

All of my files are still here, but they are encrypted with 2048 RSA encryption.  This is like out of a movie, pay the ransom, get the key.

You don't think I'll get my files back but many have in fact, gotten theirs back.  In the spirit of get what you pay for, if they didn't make good on the promise then there would be more reports of this.  I also feel like I would not have been able to INSTANTLY get my "test" file back so quickly.  I mean, it was instantaneously available, so obviously the process is automated.

What I'm worried about at this point is the offer expiring.  I never saw the original splash screen but it's been like 72 hours.  Gotta make this happen today.  Waiting for some folks to get back to me about selling their coin.

Going to look into buying at TruCoin as a backup I guess

Again, thanks to all.  You guys have been very helpful.

Good to know that they can be bought anywhere and be spent.

pedrog, thanks for the links.

Seems my version of the cryptolocker virus is still not old enough to have a utility to decrypt the files.  One word of sage advice I found, was to make sure to keep a copy of the encrypted files, so that when/if a fix is available in the future you can run it and get your files back if for some reason paying the ransom doesn't work.

That won't help me, I'm afraid as I can't wait around for this particular data....

Now, I'm hoping you all can clear up something for me.

Does it matter what "service" I use to buy my bitcoins?  Certain ones are only available in certain locales, like "Trucoin" for example is available to buy bitcoin on credit in the US, but will I be able to use those bitcoins to pay the ransom if "Trucoin" is not available whereever this kidnapper lives?

Help me fill in these blanks, I don't understand and since they are not refundable I do not want to end up with $700 I can't use to pay the ransom.

Thanks again to all.

TB

Had company anti-virus installed as well as a back up drive.

For some reason my computer last checked into the server for AV updates one month ago.  As I said earlier, my continuous backup I thought was happening wasn't.  Nice concept in theory, but apparently not worth a wooden nickel.

I may have already stated that I did in fact get back a single important file, and I have read that many people have gotten their files back once they paid ransom.

Is it a risk?  Yes.  But it's only money, and I'd gladly lose it for a chance not to recreate weeks of work.

This won't be happening to me again I assure you.  At least not without backups of backups in place.

Regards,

TB

Howdy

Thanks for all the replies

I've been an independent consultant till this past week.  As such, I was not on the company network except to access a CAD vault thru VPN.  I do understand the importance of backups, I didn't state it at the time but I have a 4TB seagate drive that I thought was configured to do continuous backups.  It says as much, yet the last backup was from before the new year.  I have been scrambling on this project and just didn't verify that it was happening.

So yeah, now I do understand the importance of vigilance.  I don't do shady on the internet for this exact reason.

Anyways, I don't have backups of nearly any sort.  So it really is that bad.

I hear what all of you are saying, and otherwise I would not consider doing this AT ALL.  I do not want to encourage this kind of virtual extortion either, but I don't have much choice.

I've read more opinions that you'll never get your data back, and see that in a dozen articles but I have found more personal accounts of recovery than not.  Even some cop shop in Maine paid for their data back.

I was able to test it out with their "one free test" thing and I did get back one of my important files.

My antivirus seemed to stop their desktop highjacking so I never saw the popup window that says how long you have been infected but I think it's going on 48 hours.

Thanks again and I'll look thru these replies a little closer.

TB

Hello

To say I'm a noob is an understatement.

I need your help.  My work at home computer is infected by the TeslaCrypt virus, and after trying everything I can think of I had decided to pay the bleeping ransom to get back all the work I have lost.  Except that getting my hands on some bitcoins is not that easy, apparently.

Look, I just want to pay market value from paypal or my mastercard and buy 2.5 bitcoins.  I had no idea it would be so difficult.

I signed up at localbitcoins.com because that is what was suggested by the hackers.  But nobody there will sell me 2.5 bitcoins and they want a crazy amount more than market value for them.  So instead of $550 it's going to cost more like $1000.

I can't afford that.  I'm probably going to lose my job if I can't get these files back.  It's months of work.  I'm about to fall off the wagon here, I need help.

What is the safest way for me to buy some bitcoin, quickly, to satisfy the demands of this hacker?

Can I buy them anywhere that accepts credit cards and will that "address" work for ransom demander?

Please help me

Thanks

TB