Posted on 12/25/2013 6:51:56 PM PST by Nachum
A virulent form of ransomware has now infected about quarter of a million Windows computers, according to a report by security researchers. Cryptolocker scrambles users´ data and then demands a fee to unencrypt it alongside a countdown clock. Dell Secureworks said that the US and UK had been worst affected. It added that the cyber-criminals responsible were now targeting home internet users after initially focusing on professionals. The firm has provided a list of net domains that it suspects have been used to spread the code, but warned that more are being generated every day. Ransomware has existed since at least 1989,
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
>>Cyber-criminals all need Massive, repetitive, concentrated exposure to military grade vomiting agent (an arseicalagent)<<
THEN a 38 caliber facial enema.
McAfee protected my computer from it so it only locked a single window of IE, so I just went to ‘processes’ window and killed the IE session which closed all those windows.
This happened a few times but never resulted in a problem.
So far McAfee has done its job.
Are you saying that some problem shows up when you boot up your computer?
My dauhter got this on her laptop. I restarted and opened up in SAFEMODE, went to backup and restore and put the laptop to an earlier date. It worked.
“bleeping computer” is a reputable site if i needed to open many attachments I would install the program. But I don’t so I haven’t.
I guess that’s sort of a recommendation, I’m no ‘expert’ anyway though.
“Cyber-criminals all need a 9mm to the back of the head.”
Nope. Too easy. Burned at the stake live on the Washington Mall with MSM cameras rolling. After a fair trial and conviction of course.
I figure after the third one, the rest would get the message and hang up their cyber spurs. The world would be a much finer place after that, and some firewood and kerosene would be such a small price to pay.
> Clever little bastards.
Not really if you’ve ever tinkered with virus and trojan manufacturing programs that are so simple that kids can use them. With just a little knowledge about how specific antivirus programs work (many simply scan specific locations on your computers for known malware files that are updated in virus deinition databases that you have to download to update; If the filenames aren’t listed in the database it won’t detect the virus) The ransomware guys usually pack their virus files into a lot of “downloader” programs that you use to download freeware files or games online. The downloader will install hidden files on your computer then unpack and install the virus / trojan in the background without alerting the target.
It doesn’t take a genius to do this; just a sociopath without a conscience hellbent on making a lot of money. I agree with others on heres; jail time isn’t sufficient. Being fed to sharks one bodypart at a time may not be sufficient.
Did anyone stop and think that if you were screwing around on the internet going places you shouldn’t like child porn sites or whatever and the FBI were on to you, do you think they’re going to tip you off by telling you they got your number? And moreover, for what amounts to an out an out bribe they’ll fix everything for you right over the net? The next thing you know you can rob a bank or access someone’s account and drain but hey, if you just send us a “Pay Pal’’ payment all is forgiven’’. Honestly. Use your head.
Glad to! An ".exe" or ".com" or the equivalent MicroShiite executable can not run on a 'nix environment. The Operating System is totally different and the calls to various libraries, drivers, video prompts, or 'doze-specific files will go exactly nowhere.
Like attempting to run an OS/2 proggie on any different system, it simply is not possible.
I’m sure he knows that. The point is that if they targeted macs it would end up with the same results. The reason they don’t bother is because of the tiny userbase compared to Windows.
Disembowelment on a picnic table with a dull steak knife.
Something tells me you’ve been the victim of these scum.
Send the jpeg image in a zipped file with the instructions to open it immediately. The default unzipping program will run, then unzip to the default directory, and then The User will need to open it -which the system will detect as a plain vanilla picture file and launch the system Graphics program to display it (Gimp, Inkscape, CorelDraw, whatever). Especially if the last displayed file was set to fullscreen mode, the warning graphic will have the desired result. *grin*
The Atari 2600, perhaps. *grin*
Or even smaller, Macs! (gasp!)
You are badly mistaken. We’ve been under a virtual siege with the attacks hammering the firewalls. Ten of our computers have been hijacked by the FBI Ransomware and one by Cryptolocker.
Cryptolocker partially encrypted an external hard drive containing the current data. Most of that data is lost and cannot be recovered. The backup has almost everything lost on the targeted drive, but a few things recently used have been lost for good. The method of access is not known with any certainty, but reports indicate the most likely route in our situation was Adobe Flash player through Youtube. Most of the hijackings appear to have occurred while playing music. I’m particularly suspicious of the Alice’s REstaurant link.
Microsoft Essentials, Microsoft Defender, Malwarebytes, and a laundry list of other products have ultimately all been defeated by these malware attacks. After using malwarebytes to remove the rootkit infections and so forth, the malware found a means to diable malwarebytes and lockdown the computer to the point where not even the BIOS could be accessed any longer. That computer is still waiting for me to repair it.
Another computer had been repaired multiple times and kept off of the Internet and no contact with media or networks of any sort with other computers. It was totally standalone when recovered. nonetheless, the malware reinstalled itself after the hard drive had a high level format and reinstallation of Windows XP. It took the replacement of the hard drive and reinstallation of Windows XP to get it operating again, only to be hijacked again within a few weeks once it went back onto the Internet. This computer is also now waiting another rebuild.
Suffice it to note, despite all of the claims you see from the anti-malware software people, their products are being defeated by this new wave of ransomware. This stuff is getting into the client computers through the PDF, Flash, and other files. We do not use e-mail onthese systems, so there is no way possible for email or email attachments to have been the source of this malware. some of the client computers were used only for one or two financial applications that have no possibility of accessing any URL that could be remotely risky. So, the attacks must be targeted at least in part at the firewalls and not music files, Websites, or other activities that could be considered a risk.
So, be cautious. There is a lot more to these ransomware attacks than what you are seeing in the reports from the anti-malware outfits.
Here’s another & a video at link:
http://pctuneup.org/cryptolocker-virus-removal/?gclid=CLjL3Oj_zLsCFWJo7AodtxgAgg
If they find the ones responsible for this, they should be buried somewhere in the desert, quietly in the night.
bump
Another one to watch out for is MalWare that redirects your browser to a site that looks just like PayPal, eBay and other common web sites.
It will change your Windows “hosts” file (C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) so when you log into what looks like PayPal, for example, it will steal your username/password and drain your account.
The bogus “hosts” file will contain hundreds of URL’s - banking web sites included.
Easy to fix, but can be hard to detect for many people.
And yeah, kids/teens are the worst. They download all kinds of crap then they wonder why their PC takes so long to boot up and runs so slow. Then you look at all the icons in their SysTray and all of the Toolbars on their browser(s)
I have a password on my PC and no one uses it but myself.
I also backup all of my pics and other important docs and burn them to DVD on a regular basis so in a worst case scenario, I wipe my HD and reinstall my O/S and apps.
I also run AVG Internet Security and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and schedule them to run scans on a weekly basis.
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