Ransomware on the rise again.
This December, Cyber-Criminals have some new tools in their arsenal. The latest addition called "Reveton", is Trojan virus variation that uses social engineering do any or all of the following:
- A verbal message in the end-users unaccented native language is broadcast over the computers speaker that the computer is compromised, and that the users must pay fee to unlock the computer. The user is told that if they try to override the infection that the hard drive will be reformatted.
- Along with this, a 48 Hour Countdown Timer may be displayed on the screen.
- This particular program has a variant that is more commonly known as "police ransomware" because it displays random illegal content messages purporting to be from various law enforcement agencies associated with the particular country that victim resides in. In some cases, this might be accompanied with a picture images showing some form extreme of porn, or documents label as "Top Secret", or other similar content.
This virus is just one of many types similar programs that block selected operating systems features, or encrypt personal files, and them requires payment to unlock them. The main goal is to frighten or agitate the user into doing something rash such as directing you to a website where you hand over Credit Card or other banking information. Paying the ransom normally means nothing is fixed, that you are never going to see the money again, and whatever credit card or account used to pay them is also compromised.
If you manage to get infected by one of these types or viruses, don’t pay the ransom and contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department for assistance with removal of the virus.
– John