#1 Question: Will this protect against new ‘Crypto’ malware such as CryptoDefense, CryptoWall, etc., and their newer v2, v3, and future variants?
A number of new CryptoLocker clones have emerged that can also be prevented by CryptoPrevent. The majority of these are protected against by default protections with their older versions, but newer variants are coming out that can only be stopped by the Maximum Protection + Program Filtering (BETA) option, which uses a definitions based system to keep current with known malware threats. This is however a “BETA” which means it is not fully tested on all platforms. Note this option is not available with the portable edition of CryptoPrevent, and it currently doesn’t function in Windows Vista.
Update 11/1/14 – some reports indicated that there were issues with existing security software and the BETA protection, however with the 7.4.2 release those issues appear to be resolved.
Update 5/8/15 – A new version of CryptoPrevent is in development, with some big changes and additions. Related to this post, the Program Filtering (BETA) option, which provides definition based protection against newer variants, will soon be replaced by a new method of applying the same core technology to protecting against current and future threats. Since the method will change a bit, in order to avoid some software incompatibilities when this option is enabled, it will probably have a new name and description within the program configuration/interface. While the protection will of course be provided to the free editions as well, I didn’t want those who purchase CryptoPrevent Premium edition with automatic updating to be surprised or confused when the update occurs automatically and the existing BETA option changes name or disappears.
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