that is very shady. i've never heard of this practice -- encrypting files and forcing you to buy decryption. was it a virus? hacked directly? for sure, it's important to remember to keep back-ups of all your data!
I am very surprised you have never heard of this very well known extortion virus. It has been in the news and it is one of those things that has, as a side effect, brought Bitcoin to the public's attention.
i suppose i am surprised as well. i am not so much on top of news, but i am constantly reading/learning about what is new with bitcoin, so it's odd that this never registered on my radar. so it is a virus -- any idea what programs/sites/etc it is associated with? is it quite widespread?