CryptoLocker

At the beginning of 2015 Italy has been targeted with new “copycat” variants of malware of the so-called “ransomware” type. Once this malware infects your computer, contents stored locally as well as on network shares are encrypted (rendering them inaccessible) and the user is asked to pay a ransom (hence the name of the threat) in order to be able to use them again.

Detailed information on the original threat (which hit mainly the US and UK in 2013), called CryptoLocker, can be found on the Symantec website. 

The most recent versions of CryptoLocker may be spread not only by means of email attachments, but also through compromised/hijacked ads on social networks or online newspapers. Only Windows machines are affected.