Petya Ransomware Uses DOS-Level Lock Screen, Prevents OS Boot Up (softpedia.com)

An anonymous reader writes: A new type of ransomware was discovered that crashes your PC into a BSOD, restarts your computer, and then prevents your OS from starting by altering the hard drive's master boot record (MBR). This keeps the user locked in a DOS screen that doubles as the ransomware's ransom note. The ransomware's name is Petya, and was currently seen only targeting HR departments in Germany.

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Re:Infection Vector

[KGIII]

I taught college maths for three semesters after retiring. The lack of longevity should be an indication of how much I enjoyed it. I only taught two different classes and then just one class for the final semester. I sort of enjoyed it but it was a "teacher's college" where they graduate future teachers. (It was UMF.) I'd had some decent instructors and borrowed/modified this entrance exam. It tells you a lot about the student's abilities.

At any rate, I did the tried and true exam at the start of two of those semesters. I did not bother doing so for the third. This was our second day class and I'd given them some instructions on the first day. I told everyone to not flip the paper over until they were told to do so. Anyone who turned the exam over prior to being told to do so was quietly marked as a failure. There were no questions asked and I let them keep going. I then told them the exam's rules.

The exam was to be done in black or blue pen. They'd been instructed to bring one on the first day of class.
I told them to read all of the exam questions and instructions completely before answering any of them.
The top of the exam also included the instructions to read all of the questions/instructions thoroughly prior to answering any of them.

The third to last "question" was instructions that said to finish reading the exam, sign the top of the page in blue or black ink, not to mark anywhere else on the front of the exam, but to continue pretending to work or to answer the bonus question. The bonus question, I forget how it was worded, was the last question and the bonus was to draw an impressionist's sketch of pi on the back of the exam.

Most people wrote their name in first. Many did all the questions until they got to #7 (? - I think it had ten questions - buggered if I remember all the details). In both of the years that I did it, only a few people actually got it right. It wasn't my original idea or anything.

However, I did fail (for that exam) those who failed it. It was a simple pass/fail exam where failure counted as a zero. It was not a mathematics test, it was a test to see how well they would follow instructions in my class. If they can't follow instructions then they'll need to learn how and we can start there.

For the most part, it worked out well. It did not work out well for everyone. After doing it a second time, I got an angry phone call from a parent (seriously, who has their parent's call their professor at a university about failing a test?) who was really unhappy that I'd given their brilliant daughter a failing score on the exam. She'd already failed it when she flipped it over before being told to but she failed it when she did the work in pencil and she failed it again when she completed the problems up until #7.

I refused to remove the grade. She, and her parents (her mother, specifically) were livid. She didn't drop the course. She passed but just barely. It seems she'd been to a private school and was considered very bright. She barely passed an introduction to collegiate mathematics... Who the hell has their parents call their professor because they legitimately failed an exam? It didn't even count for much. They expected me to not re-test but to just change the grade.

I did not change the grade. She even showed up after class with fake tears - not even good fake crying. Some of the folks who failed it were a little pissed but they got the point - and did well, most of them. I can only imagine what this person must have lead for a life to get to that point. It must have been pretty inept if they were used to being able to get stuff like that "fixed" by calling the parental units or pretending to cry. Presumably, she's out there teaching someone today - probably in some public school somewhere in Rural America.

At any rate, that's just one of the many reasons why I simply did the one more semester that I'd said I'd do. I'd have not even done that semester but I had said I would do it and I try to do what I say I will do. She was one