An HTML and computer securIty question

That doesn't sound good. I haven't experienced it but it sounds like a ransomware attack.

 

Visiting the wrong site or opening the wrong file is the most common way of getting infections like this. You should always be especially wary of anything that shows up in your email - even if it comes from someone that you know.

Before you connect any backup to your computer, make sure that you have cleared the existing infection or it could infect your backups as well.

 

You should try and identify the specific brand of ransomware.

The first hit when googling "ransomware .crypt" (no quotation marks) is https://blog.kaspersky.com/cryptxxx-ransomware/11939/
I hope this helps.

This makes me think of a post stack-something of a guy that cracked the problem for some ransomware.
you might be able to find it, don't know if it is relevant.

 

Here is an alert - US and Canada, about ransomware and where you can get it - email, web sites, compressed files,
https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA16-091A
Home users and businesses affected.

Symantec estimates ( 2012 ) 400k$ per single C2 server ( whatever that is ) paid out from users.
Slightly profitable for the ransom people.

 

A better question would be how to protect yourself. These days, you have to be the first line of defense for your computer. Police are mostly limited to their own jurisdictions such that a police dept. in Florida can't do much about malware coming from Russia. Antivirus software is only as good as its last update and won't generally protect you from yourself. Did you install any "free software" recently? Did you go to a 'free' music or movie site and click on anything? Is your browser and all of it's plugins up to date?

 

It depends on your browser. If your browser is Firefox, click on Tools -> AddOns. It will bring up a page where you can update any plugins. I would also google every plugin to verify that it is legitimate.

If you're going to any website to download 'free' movies, you're just begging to get infected. For the websites that you are visiting, I would start by googling phrases like how to get a computer virus.

 

Another note. Protection is not just about installing antivirus software and assuming that you're protected. You have to take a layered approach to protect yourself. This includes but isn't limited to

• Installing antivirus software and keeping it up to date
• Installing a firewall. Many viruses will initially install a small script that will try to connect to a web site to perform additional tasks such as installing software or sending private information to the site. A good, up-to-date firewall will let you know as soon as anything new tries to go to the internet.
• Keep your computer's OS up to date with patches.
  
• Treating all links and downloads with great suspicion. If you are visiting a new site, google it with phrases like 'virus' added to the search. You can get lots of advanced intell before you go there and do anything. You can get infected from some sites just by opening the page if your browser or computer isn't up to date on its patches.

 

Disabling Java in your browser is also a good thing. Only turn it on, and when on at the highest security settings, when you go to a website -that you know is fine- that requires Java.

I suspect doing a clean install Windows 8 will be the best way forward. To protect yourself, invest in anti-malware and anti-virus software. I use G Data Total Protection as well as Emsisoft Anti-Malware. But you could always use the security program that comes with Windows -- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/safety/pc-security/windows8.aspx

 

I got a pretty good idea of how you got hacked.

Switch to Chrome and disable Flash: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/pwn2own-2016-chrome-most-secure/

 

They know your IP. Unless it isn't a static IP, then you can't become invisible to them. But it is good that Norton is blocking the attempts. It seems there is a virus on your computer. Before the virus appeared, did you do a backup of your important data? If done after the virus entered your system, it is likely the backup contains it as well. I'm not too clued up on how they find computers to attack.

 

Otherwise, try and find out the name of the virus, and search it on Norton's website on how to remove it, with Norton's instructions. Or you could use their live support (phone or via web).

 

If they have the virus on them, it will be detected (hopefully!) when you scan just that individual drive (i.e G drive for a USB you just plugged in). I believe Norton has that feature to scan - automatically - USB sticks when they are plugged in, or you can go into Norton itself and choose to scan the USB.

If the USB doesn't have a virus, and you plug it into your computer, the virus on the computer may infect the USB.