Was watching the news on CBC yesterday in which stories were shared where malware on personal computers encrypted the personal data / information like photos , records etc. and then the software instructed how to pay up in unmarked currency or perhaps bitcoins.

A family paid $800/- and then there was this Law Firm also which was made to pay up ... The MI is not to steal the data but encrypt it on the computer itself .

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/1.2962106

Theresa and Billy Niedermayer paid an $800 ransom to get precious family photos of their three young boys back from cybercriminals.

Their home computer had been seized by one of the more malicious malware programs spreading fast around the world.

Ransomware: What you need to know

Billy Niedermayer

Billy Niedermayer says he felt 'violated' after cybercriminals locked his computer files and demanded a ransom to get them back. (CBC)

Ransomware takes computer files hostage. Cybercriminals target photos, videos, spreadsheets, documents, slide presentations — anything that someone will pay to recover. The initial infection takes seconds.

In some cases, the malicious software encrypts the files so their owners can no longer read them. The data isn't compromised or removed, just locked down and inaccessible.

Try to access them and a ransom demand appears. Typically, cybercriminals demand upward of $500 US, paid in the untraceable cybercurrency bitcoins.

Billy and Theresa Niedermayer run a home business programming and selling Android TV boxes, but their tech background didn't stop them from falling victim.

They had backed up their data on an external hard drive, but kept it plugged in to the computer, allowing it to become infected along with the rest of the computer.
'I felt violated'

Faced with the potential loss of their boys' childhood photos and their wedding and honeymoon photos, along with their business records, they paid the ransom and got the code to unlock their files.

"I felt violated," Billy Niedermayer said from his Winnipeg home. "It felt frustrating that they’re taking our hard-earned money and they’re pocketing it and funding who knows what."
Niedermayers honeymoon

Billy and Theresa Niedermayer snapped this photo on their honeymoon in Mexico in 2012. Faced with the thought of losing photos of their wedding, their honeymoon, and their boys' childhoods, they paid the $800 ransom to get them back. (Theresa Niedermayer)

It`s not clear how the Niedemayers got infected, but typically that involves opening an attachment or downloading software or an app, one which may appear legitimate. One ransomware source making the rounds appears as an email from Canada Post. It directs recipients to open an attachment to see the delivery information. But open it and the malware takes over. Virus protection programs, if outdated, even by just a couple of days, are no match.

Once a ransom is paid, a code is provided to begin the laborious decryption process — one that can take several days or weeks.

Infections with ransomware appear to be soaring. Last month, internet security firm McAfee Labs, now a subsidiary of Intel Security, announced that it had detected a 155 per cent increase in the final three months of 2014. Michelle Dennedy, chief privacy officer for Intel Security, estimates that cybercriminals are now taking in $10 million to $50 million a month using ransomware.

Just last month, the FBI issued a warning of a fairly new ransomware variant making the rounds called CryptoWall 2.0, which encrypts files on a computer’s hard drive and any external or shared drives to which the computer has access. Canadian authorities have echoed the warning.
CryptoWall ransomware encryption notice

Firms are sent this encryption notice after hackers use CryptoWall ransomware to take files hostage and demand a ransom payment. (phishme.com)

Those who peddle the criminal malware are clearly oriented to business, skilfully using the tools of e-commerce.

"Even though we got had," Billy Niedermayer admitted, "they’re brilliant.”

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Fido.

An expert advised to back up all data regularly to save from such ransomware threat in addition to theft or hard disk damage.

Really backing up personal stuff cannot be overemphasized .. I d once met a family who had a fire in their house and the loss they most regretted was family photos since their daughters were grown up now and all the memories had been burnt.

Today we keep all our photos on computers ..If the hard disk crashes or the computer is stolen .. all our documents would be lost ..

So folks get a back up drive and back it up regularly ..

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Fido.

Disconnect your external drives once the backup is complete. I have one hooked up to my router for anytime and remote access. I think I need to disconnect it and use it only when I need it. Just a few minutes of hassle is better than a complete data loss.

Better still, buy a Cloud storage and move the data to the Cloud. Keep the Cloud storage disconnected, and sign-in only when you need to access/move data - don't keep anything locally on your computer.

More important info and tips to protect your data:

http://www.welivesecurity.com/2013/12/12/11-things-you-can-do-to-protect-against-ransomware-including-cryptolocker/