Cryptolocker virus

Question

As you guys know cryptolocker is a Trojan which targets computers running Microsoft Windows and destroys files but.. is cryptolocker still a threat and can it infect my files in Ubuntu?

Answer 1

No, the known variants of Cryptolocker are not able to infect or corrupt any Linux/Unix OS, like Ubuntu.
Remember that, since Linux is becoming more popular, it will be targeted more often by virus writers. Keep your system updated using only the official repository (it uses PGP security) and always use a correctly configured sudo to execute administrative commands; never insert your root password in untrusted applications and you'll be fine.

Answer 2

Not directly. If you run a windows executable (.exe) in Wine, depending on how Wine is set up the executable can access your home directory, meaning that if one was to run Cryptolocker in Wine, it could possibly encrypt all your files in your home directory.

Before running any executable in Wine I would scan it first with VirusTotal or ClamAV.

Answer 3

I don't think CryptoLocker like applications need root privileges. It's enough to have user privileges to encrypt the home folder...

There are similar applications, e.g.: Linux encoder, which can infect Linux. By the Windows variant (the original CryptoLocker) if you have writable Samba file shares with the infected machines, then those folders can be encrypted as well. Otherwise it is harmless to Linux.

Answer 4

Only if you let Windows onto your Ubuntu system.

• virtualbox, vmware: cryptolocker will lock your containers.
• networkshares: if cryptolocker can access the files so can it lock them.

Both from real life experiences: I had to clean up a few systems in the past few days. 3 companies housed VM Ware containers with Ubuntu server on a Windows server to do their administration and used shares to copy files to and from it.

In theory Ubuntu can get infected directly but then that software needs to be installed onto your system. That tends to be a manual task with Ubuntu. Automated updates for official releases are (up to today) secure and safe.