New Malware With a Twist-Extortion!
A new malware making the rounds offers a new twist-it takes over your desktop and won’t go away unless you pay $35! It’s being called ransomware. It locks the user out of their desktop and displays a full screen, poorly spelled warning telling the user their anti-virus/anti-spyware license has expired, and goes on to a grammatically nightmarish explanation of what could happen if their supposed “license” isn’t renewed. Clicking on “Click to activate 
new license” prompts the user to call a 900 number in order to fork over their $35, and offers two international numbers in case they have any problems. The 900 number appears to belong to a payment processor used by porn sites. Unfortunately, while the bad spelling and grammar are a clear tip off that it’s a scam, by the time any of you are viewing the “warning” it’s too late. The only way to regain control of the infected system is to pay the $35.
Yikes! You read that right-you really do have to pay up to get your system back. It’s not yet known if reformatting the hard drive would do the trick, but you can’t even get access to the command prompt to try with this thing. It literally locks you out of your system. The best way to fight back is with prevention. Keep your anti virus and anti-spyware software up to date, don’t click on links in emails from people you don’t know, and visit only well known, familiar websites.
malware, internet security, anti virus, spyware
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