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'Breaking Bad' Crypto Ransomware Targets Australian Users
An anonymous reader writes: A new strain of the Trojan.Cryptolocker.S targeting Australia is using the branding of popular TV crime drama 'Breaking Bad' to theme its extortion demands. After encrypting all the files on the victim's computer, the ransomware presents a message that uses a logo and character quotes from the show, in addition to a YouTube video from the game Grand Theft Auto V, thought to be a tribute to Breaking Bad.
pw is saulgoodman
No Command and Control servers are listed for blocking this threat. An article of that ilk is utterly useless for defending one's self or company vs. this threat.
The way these viruses are mutating, sharing RNA (code), and recombining to form new strains is ridiculous. My main concern is that my computer is in close contact with Windows, OSX and also Linux. Even if I was just dual booting Windows and Linux it would be bad enough. Dual booting with the obvious genetic soup it forms between the two different operating systems is a recipe for disaster. Such close contact between operating systems and a virus that mutates to form new strains, frankly, makes me quite uneasy. Because the operating systems run on the same underlying hardware, sharing the same genetics (opcodes) means that the likelihood of the virus crossing species (OS's) is pretty damn likely. We could seriously have an uncontrollable pandemic on our hands withing weeks unless the governments of the world (and their health organisations) proactively get together and tighten air traffic so that laptops and other computers come into contact. Without cooperation I fear that we face a pandemic that will make SARS look like a baby chicken (after it comes out of the egg all nice and fluffy).
In a year, 99% of viruses are going to be crypto ransomware. It's a million times more effective than stealing bank account info or health records or credit card numbers or any of that junk that's basically valueless in 2015. If my CC gets stolen, you'd be lucky to use it in another state let alone another country. If you steal my bank account login, you better know all my security questions too once the bank sees an unfamiliar IP address and I'll get a phone call to verify a large EFT. But encrypt someone's files and they're likely to pay the ransom. I think the original ransomware virus got like $50 million+. The people behind these viruses will never be caught so until every government makes it illegal to pay these fines, people will keep doing it.
What does the term "breaking bad" mean?
See, entertainment is getting really expensive in Australia.
I'll bet "heisenberg" is the unlocking password.
What OSes are affected? And why it's not part of TF[AS]?
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
I'm not trying to blame the victim, I'm trying to understand how people still download attachments without using anti-virus software? Who double-clicks a VBS file that is in a zip file? Shouldn't the email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, ect) scan attachments that have executable code? Is the trojan installed via a drive by web browsing session? Do people install No-script in firefox? Do people use a free desktop virtualization software to open unknown attachments? Use Linux, Mac OS X or a cheap Windows computer to browse the web or email instead of their "main" computer? Use cheap tablet that has Wifi to read emails?
Just asking.
I thought malware could only target a specific Operating System, in this case Microsoft Windows XP/Windows NT/Vista/ Windows 2000/Windows 7 ..
end of local storage?
you dumb niggers amuse me
I am the one who tests.