Ask HN: Bleeping Computer and KeyHolder. Scam?

2 points by borkt 11y ago ↗ HN

I have lost access to photos from my wedding due to keyholder. It has infected all of my backups. I don't use windows often but my mac wasn't capable of opening a 32 gb SD card and apparently it was infected. There is a user (Nathan) who is offering to solve this issue but I'm not even sure if the site is legit. Can anyone let me know if I can trust it? The cost is irrelevant due to the importance of the files; I believe the virus came from the photographer himself unfortunately.

4 comments

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jordsmi 11y ago ↗

I read the thread on bleeping computer and he seems legit. Someone else in the thread said they only paid after he recovered the files, so it's probably worth it in your case.

borkt 11y ago ↗

Thanks, I never really make decisions that lead to malware so I have stayed oblivious to this new trend. I'll contact him as long as the site is legit.

smt88 11y ago ↗

I'd strongly suggest creating an offline copy of the infected SD card before proceeding. Even though you don't have clean backups, you can at least have a backup of the encrypted data. If Nathan doesn't help, that allows you to try other routes. It's also possible that the encryption could be broken in the future.

This is the basic principle of "non-destruction" for sensitive data, and it still applies, even though your data is encrypted now.

borkt 11y ago ↗

Thank you. I have 3 copies of these files now. Fortunately at the moment it inly infected a portion of the images rather thsn the whole drive.