In recent weeks, a sort of virus has been infecting computers around the world.

Cryptowall 2.0 has been running its course and getting into computers everywhere, including here in Clinton County.

Cryptowall 2.0 is what has been labled as ransonware and to date, it has successfully collected 2.5 million dollars out of some major companies like Yahoo. Ransomware has been labled as the new-age threat among cyber-terrorist.

One of the systems the ransomeware hit in Clinton County was the Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Jim Guffey said his office was lucky because the computer CryptoWall 2.0 was found on didn’t have any files the office couldn’t do without.

“They really don’t know for sure where it comes from. From what I guess is it was coming from Russia,” Guffey said.

Sheriff Guffey has been in contact with Josh Bowlin, owner of Clinton Tech Services, a computer repair store in Albany. Bowlin said the program rewrites itself about every three seconds, so the possibility of tracing the ransomware was virtually impossable.

“What it did to us was it got on this computer and it totally locked it up. It gave a contact number and asked for 500 bit coins,” Guffey said. “A bit coin is electronic currency.”

At the time of the interview with Guffey, one bit coin was worth $211.91, so the ransonware was asking for $105,955.00 in order to unlock the computer and release all the files on the system.

“What it does is locks your computer down and you don’t have access to anything,” Guffey said. “It gives you a specific amount of time to pay. If you don’t pay, then it will double it and after that it will wipe out everything on your computer.”

For the Sheriff’s Office computer, the fix was a simple one. Completely reformat the computer which will get rid of all documents and programs, almost like starting from scratch.

“It just locks you up and you can’t do anything,” Guffey said.

Guffey said there is a program people can download that can prevent CryptoWall 2.0 from entering a computer.

Bowlin said several other places in Albany have been hit with this CryptoWall 2.0 and as of right now, there is really no fix once you’ve contracted the ransomware.

“There has been reports by some of the larger companies who paid the ransom, they did get their documents back,” Bowlin said. “That’s a personal choice whether you want to pay it or not.”

Bowlin believes this is the future in business war.

“This is what it’s going to come down to in my opinion,” Bowlin said. “There is no fix for it once you’ve contracted it, but there is a way to prevent it.”

CryptoPrevent is a software people can get in order to prevent from getting hit from the ransomware.

Bowlin said the software is free if the purchaser chooses to update the software everyday manually.

“If you skip one day on updating the software, that could be the day the ransomware gets on your machine,” Bowlin said. “It’s $15 for the home user who wants to free the worries of not having to update it. You just pay $15 and it updates automatically.”

To download CryptoPrevent, logon to www.foolishIT.com.

“Nothing will detect it and even downloading this program is not 100 percent in all cases, but I highly recommend getting this software,” Bowlin said. “The only thing you can do is to put the security policies on your computer that won’t let programs make any certified changes to your computer.”

This particular software was discovered on October 14, 2014 and according to Bowlin, there has been other Crypto viruses going around.

“Some advice I have for people is to pay attention when downloading software, keep your anti-virus programs up to date and do not follow any strange links on the Internet,” Bowlin said. “Go to Google and search for CryptoPrevent and it will link you to foolishit.com, buy it and be done.”