Creators of the malware CryptoLocker are attempting to extort even more money out of their unlucky victims by ransoming their files at a much higher cost than before.

Many users who removed the malware from their systems have found that without an encryption key, the data they were hoping to restore is completely inaccessible to them. It seems the creators of CryptoLocker had a plan for this situation, as they are now offering an online decryption service for around 7 times the original ransom price.

When users were initially infected with CryptoLocker, the malware encrypted all available data and demanded a ransom price of $300 dollar in exchange for a decryption key. Many users had hoped that they would be able to remove the malware and retrieve their encrypted data through processes such as System Resotre, but sadly this has not been the case. Now those users who wish they had just paid the ransom can play the CryptoLocker crooks 10 Bitcoins (around $2,300 at current exchange rates) for the service.

Security experts are still urging malware infected victims not to pay the extortionate ransom, but for many people without backups, the price of losing  that much data may just be too high.