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April 28, 2006 5:21 PM PDT
Trojan horse: Your money or your files
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When activated, the Trojan horse, dubbed Ransom-A by antivirus company Sophos, displays some explicit images. It then shows an expletive message that demands a $10.99 payment, or it will delete one file every 30 minutes, security experts at SophosLabs said in a statement published Friday.
"This Trojan horse is designed to take your data hostage and tries to scare users into paying up quickly by threatening to wipe files one-by-one," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said in the statement.
The Trojan asks for payment via the Western Union money transfer service and promises delivery of a special disarming code after the ransom is paid, Sophos said.
This is the second example of malicious software that seeks to extort money in as many months. In March, a Trojan horse that encrypts victims' files and demands a $300 payment to have them decrypted and unlocked made the rounds. A similar attack was spotted in May of last year.
"Our concern is that this may be the beginning of a growing trend of malware designed to extort money," Cluley said.
Sophos recommends that people make backups of their data and run updated security software for protection against pests such as these ransom-demanding Trojans. As a general rule, Internet users should be cautious when opening e-mail attachments and surfing untrusted Web sites.
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a. If you must use windows, don't be stupid. Do all the things that windows users must do to be sort of secure, run lots of third party security apps, don't use IE, ect.
b. If you are stupid, keep everything backed up and wipe your disk and reinstall windows when you "mistakenly" download a trojan.
c. Rinse and repeat
Wait, even the Autobahn has rules! No wonder why we can drive like a "bat out of hell" and still live to tell about it. There's rules and regulation to driving on the Autobahn even though you can enjoy a cruze in a Lambo at 150.
Mabey Congress should look at the Audobahn and what is represents before making some rash decisions that will decide the fait of the internet as we know it.
How ironic that a bunch of Congressman think they know enough about technology to do something about it. I bet if I came up with with a questionare, 20 questions about general technology, that 90% of you on the hill would only score a 6 at best.
With that said, how do you plan on ensuring a Bill that would allow freedom on the Web and punish those that abuse it. Wait, I know how!
You have people like Microsoft, Google, Sun, and Apple breating down your necks with some green stuff telling you what you want to here while ensuring that your views are steering a direction to there liking.
Unfortunately for me, I can't afford to be up there in Capitol Hill because if I was, you'd get a clear understading of the web in it's current fashion. From someone that has something to lose when it comes to NET Neutrality as well as ISP snooping.
Until there is some ordered restored on the Net it will continue to be subject to people like the ones that created this Trojan Horse. I don't forsee it getting better either while those that decide the Nets fait are continually tossed by the Bill Gates of this world.
~Justin