A ransomware scam was delivered to University of Illinois email accounts the week of April 4, 2016. If you receive a message from someone you do not know, and the message includes an attachment, do NOT open the attachment.

If you have already opened a suspicious file sent to you via email attachment, please contact the Technology Services Help Desk (217-244-7000) (consult@illinois.edu) or contact your local IT professional.

This particular piece of malware, disguised as an email attachment, will encrypt all of your files and then ask you to pay money to regain access to them.

More information and a screenshot of one of the email messages can be found at https://techservices.illinois.edu/news/2016/beware-ransomware-scam