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Virus Hold Computer Files 'Hostage' for $200

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it'd-be-funnier-if-it-wasn't-scary dept.

dwayner79 sent in a story about a new virus making the rounds- this one is unique because it locks your files and then demands a $200 ransom to get them back. It seems to me that this might leave some sort of tracable money trail. They don't have much information on any particular transmission mechanism, they just talk about web pages giving it up.

11 of 488 comments (clear)

  1. It won't get a penny from me... by yotto · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...Until I see a photograph of my files with today's paper.

    --
    Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
    1. Re:It won't get a penny from me... by c0ldfusi0n · · Score: 5, Funny

      In other news, virus writers associate with milk producers to print the output of "dir" on the back of the milk cartons.

      --
      A computer makes it possible to do, in half an hour, tasks which were completely unnecessary to do before.
  2. I use Bank of America... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    so I figure the virus author could deduct the money from my account, himself.

  3. Ransom by mcleaver · · Score: 5, Funny

    SOmeone wrote: "this one is unique because it locks your files and then demands a $200 ransom to get them back." Unique? sounds like a description of anti-virus software to me.

  4. Wow by NubKnacker · · Score: 5, Funny
    "This seems fully malicious," said Joe Stewart, a researcher at Chicago-based Lurqh who studied the attack software.

    Gee, I wonder how he figured that out....

  5. Isn't that a feature by overshoot · · Score: 5, Funny

    that Microsoft is adding to the next version of Office?

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
  6. Re:a fix by Mr+Guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    (or discover it through brute force if they dare wait that long)


    McAfee runs on an awful lot of enterprise networks, and tons of home users. I wonder how long brute forcing a key through distributed computing would really take. I wonder if McAfee is already using cycles for nefarious reasons. How long until McAfee becomes self aware!

    I need more tinfoil

    --
    Never confuse volume with power.
  7. Why so much press.. by technomancer68 · · Score: 5, Funny

    This has been out for years, it's called Windows XP Activation.

    --

    The Technomancer
    "Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active."-
  8. New Variant by Timberwolf0122 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you dont send the money with in two weeks they start sending the files back, bit by bit.

    --
    In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
  9. There will be no negotiations. by vertinox · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sorry, but we don't negotiate with terrorists. The files knew the danger when they took the job.

    C:\>format c:

    --
    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  10. typo by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny
    you misspelled "ls"

    Oh, wait a minute, never mind...

    I forgot we were talking about viruses.