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Many Australians Forced To Pay For "Unbreakable" Cryptolocker Ransomware
An anonymous reader writes: Australians are paying thousands of dollars to overseas hackers to rid their computers of an unbreakable virus [Cryptolocker]. The deputy chairwoman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Delia Rickard, said over the past two months there had been a spike in the number of people falling victim to the scam. The commission has received 2,500 complaints this year and estimates about $400,000 has been paid to the hackers. Bad news for Australians: this is just one of many targetting the country.
but shouldn't they be used to this? i mean EVERYTHING in that country evolved to kill them. what's a bit of ransomware compared to magpies attacking their eyes when they go shopping? ever touched gympie gympie? just look at children armed with dingo sticks on their way to school... WTF is ransomware compared to that? on a scale of 1 to 10, this sofrware must be -5.
The real risk are the Drop Bears. Suicidal little buggers. Gotten worse since they figured out how to make explosives.
Seriously, a lot of Australians are just idiots. Computer technology has proliferated in the last 20 odd years but brains haven't. Almost everyone now has some kind of computer and has to use one for work but cant seem to grasp the basics of security. I have to wonder if these people would open a package some random stranger gave them on the street.
Combine this with the fact there is a large subculture glorifying idiocy and backwards thinking in this country (that's about to become a serious problem, but that is for another thread) and it's little wonder that people are getting Cryptolockers.
I have no sympathy for them, its the sysadmins that have to restore backups that I feel sorry for. Inevitably Braindead Bruce will get angry at the sysadmin when they find out that Bruce didn't keep backups of his important files (read: porn and car pictures).
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Of course Australians are a massive target. Unlike the Americans and Europeans they have jobs and money.
No point targeting the Euros as they have enough problems with their banks running out of cash and them having to live on $100/week. The USA ??....lol....they're either all on food stamps or they can't pay the electric bill, let alone have enough left over to send as bitcoin for a ransom.
Nah....it's a canny move by the ransomware authors. Hit the affluent, ignore the destitute.
Have you considered replacing her computer with one of those Fisher Price toy computers that just makes beeping noises when you press the keys? From what you say, it doesn't seem like she'd notice.
I hate printers.
Oh, surely you can do better than that?
"which computer? I have seven"
"all of them sir"
"even the ones not connected to the internet? which one do you want me to turn on?"
"any computer, sir"
"so, what are the error messages?"
and so on. Had one of them on the line for almost 20 minutes. In the end he screamed obscenities at me and HE hung up. I told one girl her mother would be ashamed of her, I told another one I couldn't get to the computer because I had a broken leg. Even told another that the call would be traced because I was on a silent number and in the witness protection scheme and the SSB would be breaking down their door any minute.
It's quite a challenge, coming up with something original that'll disrupt their script and waste their time. I plan to learn some insults in Hindi, that'll be fun.
"Your computer is sending us error messages sir"
Hindi: f*ck off you untouchable pig-f*cking corpse-handler. Your mother suckles..... well, you get the idea.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
In Australia we call them waiters, and no, I like the girls too much to be interested.