technology
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
A security company warns of a dangerous blackmailer software that has already captured millions of computers worldwide. Now also German users targeted by gangsters who are behind “Torrent Locker”.
Since spring 2014 drives the ransomware Torrent Locker mischief and has already infected thousands of computer systems worldwide. The pest encrypted key documents on the computers of victims and demands ransom for the software with which the captured files can be liberated. To cover their tracks, calling for the blackmailer, who are behind Torrent Locker, a payment in Bitcoins. Converted to collect sums of up to 1100 euros.
employees of the security provider Eset has succeeded in the way how the command server torrent Locker generate the URLs for the payment pages to reconstruct. Thus, the researchers were able to target the attackers countries, determine the number of encrypted data and the price paid by the victims ransom.
Small success rate, huge win
At the recent attack were some 40,000 computer infected, many of them in Europe. 570 victims have paid the ransom. Although this represents only a success rate of 1.44 percent, but for cyber criminals, the business is extremely profitable: Converted they captured 467,460 euros within a short time, Eset estimates the infection rate to 693 computers per day. In Italy are about 4,500 of the detected computer, in Austria almost 1500, in Germany the 240th
More about
Torrent Locker spreads via spam e-mails, the users are brought by various tricks to execute malicious code, which is then encrypted the files. Thus, while the attackers are, for example, personalized emails, ransom and payment pages that are adapted to the origin of the victim.
Ransomware is not as well known, such as banking Trojan is cyber gangsters but already used very long. Already in 1989, made the infamous Trojan AIDS of this strategy use and forced his victims $ 189 for decryption. Last Crypto Locker hit the headlines after some victims identified and those responsible have probably caught. The gangsters behind Torrent Locker verutlich are not first-time offenders. Eset has evidence that they are stuck Hesperbot also behind the banking Trojan.
Source: n-tv.de
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