ransomware

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New ransomware locks PCs, demands premium SMS for removal

New ransomware locks PCs, demands premium SMS for removalMaybe I overestimate the average person's intelligencebut I would think that anybody who has data that valuable as to pay a ransom to retrieve it would know exactly how to fix the problem without paying the ransom. And that those who don't...

Tags: Text messaging/SMS/MMS, Telephony, Operating systems, Desktops, Microsoft Windows, PC, SMS, operating system

Discussion threads 2009-04-22

New ransomware locks PCs, demands premium SMS for removal

UPDATE: Another variant has been detected. Following the recently uncovered hybrid scareware with elements of ransomware, and last year's GPcode ransomware attacks, cybercriminals have once again demonstrated their interest in the concept of ransomware. PandaLabs is reporting on a newly discovered ransomware variant which...

Tags: PC, Malware, SMS, Cybercriminal, Attack, PandaLabs, Dr.Web, Ransomware, Text Messaging/SMS/MMS, Telephony, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Cyberthreats, Cellular Phones, Security, Viruses And Worms, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Online Communications, Networking, Dancho Danchev

Blog posts 2009-04-22

Additional Resources

News to know: L.A. goes Google; AMD-Galleon; Cisco-ScanSafe; Ubuntu; Amazon RDS

Here are today's notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET's around-the-Web tech coverage.: Larry Dignan: WSJ: AMD's former CEO was a Galleon tipster Sam Diaz: Cisco continues its buying spree with...

Tags: Tom Foremski, Ubuntu, Google Inc., Larry Dignan, Dana Blankenhorn, ScanSafe, Mary Jo Foley, Amazon.com Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Sam Diaz, Microsoft Windows 7, Data Centers, Microsoft Windows, Tablets, Internet, Databases, Storage, Hardware, Data Management, Operating Systems, Software, Notebooks & Tablets, Enterprise Software

Blog posts 2009-10-28

New LoroBot ransomware encrypts files, demands $100 for decryption

You forgot to mention....which OSs it affects! Or is it based on something multi-platform like Java?Look at the bigger size version of the screenshot, it's all in thereA lot of russian characters and...YES, you guessed it right, the word "windows" prominently displayed in red in the title.Who would ever thought...

Tags: Spyware, adware & malware, Cyberthreats, LoroBot, decryption, malware

Discussion threads 2009-10-27

New LoroBot ransomware encrypts files, demands $100 for decryption

Researchers from CA have intercepted a new ransomware variant encrypting popular file extensions (.zip; .rar; .pdf; .rtf; .txt; .jpg; .jpeg; .waw; .mp3; .db; .xls; .docx; .xlsx; .doc) and demanding a $100 for the decryption software. According to the message which replaces the desktop's background upon execution, the...

Tags: Decryption, SMS, Text Messaging/SMS/MMS, Telephony, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Online Communications, Networking, Dancho Danchev

Blog posts 2009-10-27

The ultimate guide to scareware protection

Throughout the last two years, scareware fake security software, quickly emerged as the single most profitable monetization strategy for cybercriminals to take advantage of. Due to the aggressive advertising practices applied by the cybercrime gangs, thousands of users fall victim to the scam on a daily...

Tags: Search Engine Optimization, Web, Search Engine, Antivirus, Malware, Social Engineering, Security Software, Search, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Cyberthreats, Viruses And Worms, Security, Marketing Research, Marketing, Dancho Danchev

Blog posts 2009-09-13

Mac OS X vulnerable to 6-month old Java flaw

Mac OS X vulnerable to 6-month old Java flawNah.....Apple designed OSX with security in mind from the start. What, this isn't an OSX flaw? Just goes to show you that you can never be too safe. I would expect that Apple users will make a run on...

Tags: Operating systems, Desktops, Apple Mac OS X, old Java flaw, Java, Java flaw, Apple Macintosh, Apple Mac OS, Apple Inc., OSX Flaw, security, flaw

Discussion threads 2009-05-20

News to know: Apple, VMWare, Earth Day, Kaiser, MySpace

Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily.  For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage. Sam Diaz: Apple beats for Q2; Best non-holiday quarter; Netbook hardware 'junky' Jason D. O'Grady: Apple's Q209 earnings. Recession?...

Tags: Larry Dignan, Dana Blankenhorn, Apple Inc., VMware Inc., Sam Diaz, MySpace, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Linux, Open Source, Hardware, Operating Systems, Software

Blog posts 2009-04-23

Scareware pops-up at FoxNews

There have been numerous reports from affected users that a scareware variant of PersonalAntivirus and ExtraAntivirus has been poping-up at FoxNews.com during the last couple of days, through a malvertising campaign. This most recent case of malvertising (MSN Norway serving Flash exploits through malvertising; Fake Antivirus XP...

Tags: Web, Advertisement, Campaign, Network, Web Site, Web Site Development, Channel Management, Security, Viruses And Worms, Internet, Marketing, Dancho Danchev

Blog posts 2009-04-15

News to know: Windows 7 RC; Cloud wars; Scareware; Facebook WWDC;

Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily.  For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage. Dion Hinchcliffe: Cloud computing and the return of the platform wars Microsoft fights the 'open' fight amid the clouds. Techmeme Mary Jo...

Tags: Facebook, Larry Dignan, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Sales Strategy, Operating Systems, Software, Sales

Blog posts 2009-03-27

Scareware meets ransomware: "Buy our fake product and we'll decrypt the files"

Scareware meets ransomware: "Buy our fake product and we'll decrypt the files"I imagine this is targeted ONLY to Windows platforms :-)As soon as I read this I looked over at my wife and said "God I'm glad we left Windows!" The more I read of this crap the happier I...

Tags: Spyware, adware & malware, Cyberthreats, Microsoft Windows, Viruses and worms, Scareware, RICO, MasterCard International, Visa Inc., malware, security

Discussion threads 2009-03-26

Scareware meets ransomware: "Buy our fake product and we'll decrypt the files"

A newly pushed scareware called File Fix Professional 2009 (FileFix Pro 2009), has the potential to influence the way in which spreaders of rogue security software optimize their revenue in the future - by encrypting critical business files and requiring a $50 purchase of the fake...

Tags: Network, Security Software, Mergers & Acquisitions, Security, Viruses And Worms, Investment, Finance, Dancho Danchev

Blog posts 2009-03-26

News to know: Open source court victory; Surveillance; SAP; VMware

Notable headlines: Tom Steinert-Threlkeld: Police Surveillance: Go Snoop, Yourself Olympics Victor: NBC, Over YouTube Lessig blog: Huge and important news: free licenses upheld NYT: Ruling Is a Victory for Supporters of Free Software Adrian Kingsley-Hughes:...

Tags: Apple iPhone, Larry Dignan, Open Source, SAP AG, Apple Inc., VMware Inc., Defcon, 3G, Notebooks, Wireless, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets

Blog posts 2008-08-14

New Gpcode (encryption) ransomware speading via botnet

New Gpcode encryption ransomware speading via botnetIt's a 15 minute problem at bestLoad your most recent C drive image, then restore any lost files from your last backup. What's the problem?It'll help teach people to BACK UP their dataSo maybe there's a silver lining, who knows? For me,...

Tags: GpCode

Discussion threads 2008-08-13

New Gpcode (encryption) ransomware speading via botnet

There are confirmed reports on a new version of the Gpcode ransomware being spread via a botnet. According to Vitaly Kamluk of Kaspersky Lab my employer, the Trojan encrypts files on an infected machine (AES-256) and leaves a text file named crypted.txt with...

Tags: Encryption, File, Security, Ryan Naraine

Blog posts 2008-08-13

Today's assignment : Coding an undetectable malware

Today's dynamic Internet threatscape is changing so rapidly, that the innovations and creativity applied by malware authors can easily render an information security course's curricular on malware outdated pretty fast, or worse, provide the students with a false feeling of situational awareness about today's malware that's driving the entire cybercrime...

Tags: Malware, Antivirus Software, Virus, Cyberthreats, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Viruses And Worms, Security, Dancho Danchev

Blog posts 2008-08-06

The Internet: Where Did IT All Go Wrong?

It's hard to imagine life today without all of problems that the Internet has introduced: phishing attacks, cyber-bullying, data theft on a scale never before imagined, spam, distributed denial-of-service attacks, ransomware, spyware, website defacements, and so on, none of which will disappear any time soon, despite the best efforts of...

Tags: Information Technology, University Of Brighton, Internet, Web Site Development, Phishing, Cyberthreats, Web Technology, Security, Spam And Phishing

White papers 2008-08-01

How to recover GPcode encrypted files?

Got backups? In response to the security community's comments on the futile attempt to directly attack the 1024 bit RSA keys using distributed computing, Kaspersky Labs are now reasonably recommending that affected end users lacking backups of their encrypted data, take advantage of data recovery tools : Currently, it's...

Tags: Data Recovery, Backup, Malware, File, GPcode, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Cyberthreats, Viruses And Worms, Security, Dancho Danchev

Blog posts 2008-06-16

News to know: Firefox 3; Patch Tuesday; SocialCalc

Notable headlines: Paula Rooney: All systems are go for Firefox 3 launch; RC3 needed for Mac OSX only Nate McFeters: What's wrong with an exploit being sexy? Ryan Naraine: Critical IE, Bluetooth, DirectX flaws highlight MS Patch...

Tags: Apple iPhone, Mozilla Firefox 3.0, CIO, Mozilla Firefox, 3G, Apple Mac OS X, Desktop Virtualization, Web Browsers, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Operating Systems, Software, Apple Mac OS, Internet, David Grober

Blog posts 2008-06-11

Who's behind the GPcode ransomware?

Who's behind the GPcode ransomware?Any way we can performa distributed computing for cracking these keys? like folding at home? (ps. make it proxy compaitble.)even betterarrest the scumbags and put them in jail until they release the code and any extorted money.Just track the damn funds and grab the...

Tags: GPCode

Discussion threads 2008-06-10