If you haven’t heard of “ransom ware”, you need to pay attention to this story. Spanish officials have taken down a gang who specializes in a virus that hold user;s data for ransom:
The gang, operating from the Mediterranean resort cities of Benalmadena and Torremolinos, made at least $1.35 million annually, said Deputy Interior Minister Francisco Martinez. Their notices to victims were accompanied by false threats claiming they were under investigation for accessing child pornography or illegal file-sharing.
The 27-year-old Russian alleged to be the gang’s founder and virus developer was detained in the United Arab Emirates at the request of Spanish police while on vacation and an extradition petition is pending, Martinez said. Six more Russians, two Ukrainians and two Georgians were arrested in Spain last week.
Europol, which coordinates national police forces across Europe and worked with Spanish authorities on the case, said the operation “dismantled the largest and most complex cybercrime network dedicated to spreading police ransomware.”
Sounds delightful doesn’t it? Here’s how the scam which was propagated via a virus worked:
The virus displayed the national emblem of the police force in each country it appeared, telling people to buy prepaid electronic money cards to pay the fines online.
Authorities estimate less than three per cent of those people whose computers were infected paid, but the amounts added up. The gang also stole data and information from victims’ computers, and didn’t unlock them after the fake fines were paid.
Money was also stolen from the victims’ accounts via ATMs in Spain, and the gang made daily international money transfers through currency exchanges and call centers to send the funds stolen to Russia.
This is another reason to make sure that the security on your computer is up to snuff so that you don’t fall victim to something like this.
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This entry was posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:21 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Security, virus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Spain Takes Down “Ransomware” Gang
If you haven’t heard of “ransom ware”, you need to pay attention to this story. Spanish officials have taken down a gang who specializes in a virus that hold user;s data for ransom:
The gang, operating from the Mediterranean resort cities of Benalmadena and Torremolinos, made at least $1.35 million annually, said Deputy Interior Minister Francisco Martinez. Their notices to victims were accompanied by false threats claiming they were under investigation for accessing child pornography or illegal file-sharing.
The 27-year-old Russian alleged to be the gang’s founder and virus developer was detained in the United Arab Emirates at the request of Spanish police while on vacation and an extradition petition is pending, Martinez said. Six more Russians, two Ukrainians and two Georgians were arrested in Spain last week.
Europol, which coordinates national police forces across Europe and worked with Spanish authorities on the case, said the operation “dismantled the largest and most complex cybercrime network dedicated to spreading police ransomware.”
Sounds delightful doesn’t it? Here’s how the scam which was propagated via a virus worked:
The virus displayed the national emblem of the police force in each country it appeared, telling people to buy prepaid electronic money cards to pay the fines online.
Authorities estimate less than three per cent of those people whose computers were infected paid, but the amounts added up. The gang also stole data and information from victims’ computers, and didn’t unlock them after the fake fines were paid.
Money was also stolen from the victims’ accounts via ATMs in Spain, and the gang made daily international money transfers through currency exchanges and call centers to send the funds stolen to Russia.
This is another reason to make sure that the security on your computer is up to snuff so that you don’t fall victim to something like this.
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This entry was posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:21 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Security, virus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.