Ransom

[Friends just call me Ross]

Not THE ransom.   This post is about another ransom.  A trojan horse called RANSOM that attacks all Windows' operating systems.

Ransom Trojan horse demands money with menaces

April 28, 2006Sophos Press Release

The Trojan horse holds data hostage until a ransom is paid.

Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have warned users about a Trojan horse that prevents victims from accessing their computer data and asks for ransom to be paid via Western Union.

The Troj/Ransom-A Trojan horse threatens to delete one file belonging to the innocent user every 30 minutes, until the $10.99 ransom demand is fulfilled.

Upon activation the Trojan horse displays some pornographic images, as well as the following message:

listen up muthafucka 
is this computer valuable. it better not be. is this a business computer. it better not be. do you keep important company records or files on this computer. you'd better hope not. because there are files scattered all over it tucked away in invisible hidden folders undetectable by antivirus sofware the only way to remove them and this message is by a CIDN number

The Trojan horse continues to explain that a "CIDN number" can be acquired by making a payment via Western Union to the hacker. Once the number has been entered, the Trojan promises to remove itself and restore access to the stolen files.

"This Trojan horse is designed to take your data hostage, and tries to scare users into paying up quickly by threatening to wipe files one-by-one. Our concern is that this may be the beginning of a growing trend of malware designed to extort money from innocent users," saidGraham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Ransomware like this underlines the importance for every computer user to make regular backups of their important data, and to defend their computers with up-to-date security software."

https://www.sophos.com/en-us/press-office/press-releases/2006/04/ransom.aspx

 

 

It's been in the news A LOT, lately.  For the last two days, AVG has prevented it from attacking my computer.

 

Anybody else been getting messages about Ransom attacks being thwarted?

I just noticed that the Ransom article I quoted is from 2006.  If it's been around for ten years, wonder why it's suddenly in the news so much now, in 2016?  Guess it just keeps 'evolving'.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Friends just call me Ross
noticed something

[Old]

It is a very profitable Trojan. Recently a major hospital paid out $35,000 to reclaim their system. It was by far the lessor of two evils, loosing all their data and rebuilding or going on with that business day by making the payout. If they are "honest thieves" every think will be OK>

If you get hit with this you might try immediately turning off your computer, waiting awhile and then restarting. This worked for one of these Trojans back in the nineties. Probably they are more sophisticated now, but worth a try. Absolutely do not click on the screen, unless you are ready to pay.