The ransom -virus

The virus-ransom hard disk kidnappers arrive

A web page is opened or clicked on a link in an e-mail, and computer desktop turns gray. A window opens in the browser with the FBI logo on the top left. In a corner of the window, you can see the video of a face filmed live. We try to click elsewhere, but the screen is locked. Then, surprise, his face looking at us on the screen, you end recognize that it is ours.

This is not the scenario of some Japanese horror film. This is a particularly frightening virus dubbed "ransomware" or "virus ransom" that for some months been a number of reporting strong growth.

 

Nobody knows how many people have been infected, but McAfee security software company, reported having registered 120,000 new samples of this virus in the second quarter of 2012, four times more than the same period last year last.

There are several ransom virus variants, which have in common is to start with your access to your own computer. The rest of the program: extort money by blackmailing the user, by intimidation or fear of making him one way or another. No physical force but many give way, and that's understandable.

The process I describe in the first paragraph is that of infection by a virus called Reveton, which is contracted by clicking on a malicious link or by visiting an infected website, triggering the automatic download. Under the video, which reflects our surprise when we recognize, is the IP address of the computer, the "hostname" and a warning: "Your computer is locked."

By reading the following, we discover that we are charged with possession of files downloaded illegally in violation of federal copyright laws (a (...) Read more on Slate.fr