Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Hackers Holding Computer Files 'Hostage'

Well, this is certainly a new twist on things.

An AP article by Ted Bridis appears on Yahoo! News:

Computer users already anxious about viruses and identity theft have new reason to worry: Hackers have found a way to lock up the electronic documents on your computer and then demand $200 over the Internet to get them back.

Security researchers at San Diego-based Websense Inc. uncovered the unusual extortion plot when a corporate customer they would not identify fell victim to the infection, which encrypted files that included documents, photographs and spreadsheets.


A ransom note left behind included an e-mail address, and the attacker using the address later demanded $200 for the digital keys to unlock the files.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home