Some of the files in my documents (Word documents, Excel docs, pictures, etc.) cannot be opened any more because some hacker left a note saying that payment must be made at paytordmbdekmizq.pay4tor.com in order to decrypt the files before I can use them again. I've heard of this being called file hostage. This is the first time it's ever happened to me. Norton 360 scanned one of the folders involved and found nothing. Can anyone tell what my options are right now?
Also, how would the hacker get into my pc in the first place? Could it be by simply clicking on his site? I'm pretty careful about not installing unknown .exe files. Does anyone have any ideas of how this happened and what I can do at this point since Norton is not even recognizing that a threat exists?