Ransomware on the rise again

Ransomware – malware that scares users or encrypts data until the user pays up – is on the rise again, with most of the attacks noted in Europe, a computer security firm said.

 

PandaLabs said the latest wave of ransomware attacks are localized, with some in English and others in German, Spanish or Dutch.

 

“In the last months we have seen an increase of ransomware attacks. While the first ones we saw were posing as Microsoft to threaten the user because it had been detected a pirated version of Windows, and in case you didn’t pay the fine they would contact the local law enforcement agencies, the new ones are posing as the very same law enforcement agencies,” it said in a blog post.

 

All the recent attacks appear to target some European country, it said. It added this may indicate all the attacks are related and that the same cybercriminal gang could be behind them.

 

PandaLabs said the last one appeared some days ago, seemingly targeting Spain.

 

It said the message claims to have detected illegal material such as child pornography and spam about terrorism from the victim’s computer, and that the computer will be locked to prevent such further use.

 

“To solve that you have to pay a fine of €100,” it said.

 

PandaLabs said the malware blocks the computer, so it is not easy to remove.

 

“To do it, restart the computer in safe mode and run a scan with an antivirus solution that is able to detect it,” it said. — TJD, GMA News