The beginning of the end for Cryptolocker? How you can help.

Unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand for the last year or so, you’ll be well versed with the malicious Cryptolocker malware.

That’s the nasty piece of software that encrypted all of your files and forced you to pay a ransom if you wanted them back.

The various law enforcement agencies around the world haven’t had a great deal of luck tracking down the people or the central servers responsible for distributing and controlling the malware. Up until now that is.

The US Department of Justice announced this week that a string of assaults – the result of months of exhaustive investigative work – have allowed a number of cyber-police forces from across the world to seize control of multiple servers responsible for distributing and controlling the Cryptolocker malware, as well as another prolific type of malware known as Gameover Zeus which was partly responsible for helping Cryptolocker spread, and which combined have stolen millions of dollars from victims all around the world.

These servers were responsible for distributing the malware and giving the malware further instructions when it infected the end-users computer. The end-user computers, known as a “zombies”, and the central servers together create a criminally controlled network that allow malware like Crytolocker to spread so far so quickly.

There is some way to go however, as it is likely that many other servers out there are still in the control of criminals, and the people behind the malware are still out there too.

But the good news is that this police seizure will likely decrease the distribution of the malware, and if you are already infected, it may restrict what the malware can do when it’s on your machine, as for both Gameover Zeus and Cryptolocker to function they need to contact the control servers for further instructions (known as “calling home.”)

Whilst the authorities track down and take control of the criminal servers, it is up to the end user (you!) to ensure that the zombie computers are disinfected with this type of malware, disassembling this crime network whilst the criminals responsible try and elude the authorities.

You can make sure your computer is malware free by running a full system scan with your up-to-date antivirus software. Our recommended security suite was amongst the first to provide specific protection against Cryptolocker and you can read our review on it here.

There are also an arsenal of free tools out there that can scan specifically for Crytolocker and Gameover Zeus as well.

The threat isn’t over by any means, but we may well be witnessing the first step of many to gradually remove this latest ransomware threat.