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Scammy Tech Support Sites Now Serving Up Ransomware (csoonline.com)
itwbennett writes: One holds your files hostage, the other overcharges to fix nonexistent computer problems. And now they may be working together. On one scammy tech support site seen by Symantec, an iframe hidden on the page redirected to the Nuclear exploit kit, a popular one used to spread malware. What is unclear is whether the people running tech support scams are working with those who create and rent out the use of exploit kits and associated infrastructure or if the tech support websites have been compromised in order to redirect visitors to exploit kits. Either way, it could add up to a very big headache for anyone who falls for the scam.
People buy alarms for houses and cars and maintain them. People buy dogs and run out and get help training them.
Then there are the people that don't care about maintenance or learning how to maintain - and that's why a system that just restores factory fresh with the touch of a coupe of buttons is the best option for them.
Frankly, as having been the "go to" family member to fix this crap - after 20 years, I'm sorta glad that they just reset their stuff and leave me alone.
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
time to add fixya and dll-files to my HOSTS file. I might have triggered a certain Bloody Beetle Macbeth mary Juice saying so though. :/
Yeah, like I trust anything they have to say. Thanks for eating up all our computers RAM by the way.
This is not surprising at all. Scummy site #1 has a dubious product that people buy, so they make a deal with scummy site #2 so there is a percentage chance that their software will grab and install ransomware. Because it is intermittant and not done from the same IP ranges twice, scummy site #1 will never be fingered for the deed.
There is a solution, next to making all computers locked down like iOS:
Create a protocol like NDMP, except more generic, where a backup server can not just connect to a SAN or NAS, but individual machines over a specific backup protocol, then slurp the data from that. Never should the client machine be able to affect data on the backup server, unless directed so by a user with the appropriate access permissions.
This protocol would be both for backups, but restores, where a machine can boot a small OS, and after the backup server is authenticated, allow for the server to push a complete image, the machine gets rebooted, and the bare metal restore is complete.
Is there anything close to this? Windows Server Essentials comes close. Writing a script from a locked down server to SSH in, do a tar, then stuff it in a zbackup repository is another (although it will save documents, that would be worthless for a bare metal reload.) The key is making sure to have backups that malware can't touch, and have backups for a period of time.
Maybe a NDMP-like protocol coupled with a NAS might just be the answer. Right now, a QNAP or Synology NAS can do a lot of functions, and having it do a dump of a PC by itself wouldn't be too farfetched.
For long term backups, what I'd like to see is consumer level tape drives come back. Even though tapes and HDDs are vastly different, the densities used on HDD platters should mostly transfer to tape, and something along the lines of a 4mm tape form factor with 2-4 TB native capacity would be ideal for SOHO/SMB use. Once the tape is done, flip the write protect switch, and the data is pretty much protected. Barring tape, maybe optical drives with a decent capacity and price. The cost of 120GB Blu-Ray drives hasn't budged while every other piece of storage has gone down by a large amount.
"On one scammy tech support site .. an iframe hidden on the page redirected to the Nuclear exploit kit, a popular one used to spread malware"
Are you not allowed to tell us what Desktop Operating System platform this maware runs on.
It would also make it super easy to check and make sure someone's not being like, a pedo or communist or a Jap sympathizer, and we all know that the only people who would ever encrypt their computers are criminals or enemies of the state.
Hell, we should just outlaw encryption entirely. It's double plus ungood to prevent law enforcement from looking at whatever they like at any time. Remember, the police are your friend!
(Offer does not apply to certain socioeconomic classes, void where prohibited, Anonymous Coward Industries claims no warranty in the event that the police turn out to be, in fact, not your friend.)
And hell, after we've violated your fourth and second amendments enough in this way -- yes, second, because you have the right to defend yourself with arms, not just firearms -- it'll be a simple matter to outlaw outdated concepts such as guns, curtains, or locks. After all, the police are our friends, and they may need to look in at us at any time of the day or night that they want.
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Going to a scamming site for tech support will actually ensure you need some...!
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Fuck your community experience, I just want to read the blog entry. Javascript required? No thanks.
It would help law enforcement track criminals such as terrorists and those who orchestrate scams such as ransomware. If they couldn't communicate with unbreakable encryption, it would be much easier to bring these criminals to justice and it would keep all of us safer.
Yes but please be aware of the fact that so far there have been no cases where weak encryption would help, or strong encryption would hinder the terrorists. And in Paris, they apparently communicated through unencrypted SMS messages.
Backdoors could also be used to unencrypt data that criminals encrypted with ransomware, allowing victims to recover their data without paying exorbitant prices to criminals.
Unfortunately this would also allow criminal to unencrypt data that banks encrypted for their customers, or sensitive personal data that companies or government organizations are storing about people.
Imagine how bad things would get if terrorists or hostile governments got hold of the backdoor access. How about companies installing backdoors for THEIR governments or just for their own corporation? How about if anyone in law enforcement decides to misuse the backdoors to find dirt on a political opponent? And finally - there is no way to stop unbreakable encryption, as long as one-time coding pads exist; so in each case, determined terrorists are not going to be hurt by this.
So yes, there may be some reasons in favour, but I feel like more are against.
There are a couple of good reasons why all encryption should have backdoors. It would help law enforcement track criminals such as terrorists and those who orchestrate scams such as ransomware. If they couldn't communicate with unbreakable encryption, it would be much easier to bring these criminals to justice and it would keep all of us safer. Backdoors could also be used to unencrypt data that criminals encrypted with ransomware, allowing victims to recover their data without paying exorbitant prices to criminals. This is yet another good reason why all encryption should have backdoors that are available to the government.
Most trolling nowadays is just terrible. This one works because it has excellent grammar and is actually semi-believable. My compliments. This is how it's done.
Back doors eventually become front doors.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
You mean sunjit from microshaft is not really my friend helping me with my wirus infrection on my computa???
Are we posting on one such "scammy tech support site"?
calling on SLASHDOT SO-CALLED EDITORs and ADMINs! Why am I getting an "unsecured SSL CERTIFICATE" warning from this site? Has our very own slashdot become one of these so-called "scammy tech support sites"? If they are nerds running the site, they SHOULD fix this ASAP! So we won't be getting scammed but instead be getting scientific scoops!! You know, "stuff that really matters!" Not ransomware crap!
FIX THIS ERROR, MAN! Are you true tekkiis, or mere bloggers? I even despise that word. Get a real job will yaz. Todays captcha:astatine. Yup, trying to use that in a sentence...as in, Astatine time, saves nine. A true editor will recognize that; a red blooded nerd will fix the SSL issue.
Provocateur (Will no longer be logging in until SSL certificate problem is fixed. No dice, as my hero Dave used to say.)
Amazing. It's like you imagine the scam tech support criminals would draw the line at ransomware, and the ransomware criminals would find tech support scamming morally beyond the pale. And never the two shall meet!
They're criminals. Is it really such a surprise they will employ any method available to steal money from their victims?
The Symantec article uses the acronym PUA for "potentially unwanted application".
I wish they had used the word "software" instead of "application".
Your computer have virus.
Then why are you posting as AC? Post your spam with your real name.
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If you've ever had the privilege of talking to one of these ESL scammer techs, you can hear them working in a loud call center. This leads me to believe that there is either a huge office building where people go to work as criminals, or they are actually support technicians working outsourced jobs for Big Software, and are doing the scamming on the side for extra coin. I could just be overthinking this and they're just some guy sitting in a smoky room playing a "call center sounds, compilation 3" cassette through a loudspeaker.
There is a petition on the Whitehouse government website asking for government aid in combatting the well-known Microsoft Windows Tech Support scam, which can involve ransomware or other fishing techniques.
With 150 signatures, it will go public on the Whitehouse's website. The government is not likely to be able to do anything about it, but all publicity helps reduce the pool of victims. Well worth signing.