Your computer and smartphone, held hostage

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

Cybercriminals are making their attacks personal, remotely locking your computers and smartphones until you pay a hefty ransom.

Tapping a link on your smartphone to watch a new music video might sound harmless, but it got one 12-year-old girl from Tennessee into trouble last year.

 

Instead of a video, the preteen -- whose name has not been disclosed because of her age -- had unwittingly installed malicious software that downloaded child pornography, locked her Android phone, and threatened to report the pornography to the FBI if she didn't fork over $500 in ransom. She reported the hacker's extortion demands to Frank Watkins, an investigator with the Coffee County Sheriff's Department.

 

It's called ransomware, a type of malicious code that leaves its victims feeling personally violated. Some versions destroy your data if you don't pay, while others merely threaten. And some versions will encrypt your device, scrambling everything it contains until you pay a ransom. And if your device encrypted and locked, you're toast -- with no way to remove the malware.

// i have some questions , can't they just root the phone instead and use it normally ? 




Source : http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/your-computer-and-smartphone-held-hostage/

[007agentHP]

this is not new

my friend got this malware on his pc almost a year ago

[Lazmarr]

 

And they can't even spell 'Your' right -__-

[gollum99]

Just get linux running from a dvd, wipe the hdd and reinstall windows. What is all the fuzz about?

[Thorium19]

This sort of malware has been around for a while but is only just rising to prominence as more and more people, especially younger and older people, gain freer access to the internet. My sister got something similar to this on her iMac a few months back, but it didn't demand a ransom, instead it just had a countdown to wiping all her data on the mac. Luckily I managed to deal with it, but it goes to show everyone can be affected. Even those "It'll never get a virus" Mac users.

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

Just get linux running from a dvd, wipe the hdd and reinstall windows. What is all the fuzz about?

it's a phone not a PC 

[shujin]

this is why people need to know how their pc work so those will not be a problem anymore

[pedro69]

Those are called ransom ware and are extremely difficult to get rid off. A good removal tool is Hitman Pro: http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro

[jduenes]

You cant just factory data wipe the phone in recovery?

[shujin]

Those are called ransom ware and are extremely difficult to get rid off. A good removal tool is Hitman Pro: http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro

extremely difficult.... you can just fresh install to solve everything

[shujin]

You cant just factory data wipe the phone in recovery?

it's rare that we know the way to reset to factory setting a phone cause they usually keep that secret ^^ 

[jduenes]

it's rare that we know the way to reset to factory setting a phone cause they usually keep that secret ^^ 

ahh makes sense. i think you can with adb in command prompt. i think if you put it into fast boot idk i could be wrong i havent done it out of recovery in a while lol. but yeah i agree its not something everyone will just know!

[shujin]

ahh makes sense. i think you can with adb in command prompt. i think if you put it into fast boot idk i could be wrong i havent done it out of recovery in a while lol. but yeah i agree its not something everyone will just know!

just doing a fresh install is something people don't know and this make me sad

[TAK]

.

[SIGSEGV]

Ransomware has existed for ages...

[gollum99]

There is the android factory menu, just google the key combination for your phone and there you can do a factory wipe.

[Snickerzz]

 

they're onto me! D:

[shujin]

What planet are you living on?

the same as yours if they would give the method so easily we could actually do what we wanted on any device and it's currently not the case

[Fetzie]

 

they're onto me! D:

 

I don't that that is actually illegal in the USA

[Xorbot]

I don't that that is actually illegal in the USA

 

I defer to the expert, here.  I have no clue, myself.

[Snickerzz]

I don't that that is actually illegal in the USA

depends on the state :<

[brownninja97]

we as much of a douche as I sound this does mean more money for me to fix this stuff, i dont know how to fix phones at the moment hopefully its not too different

[Xorbot]

we as much of a douche as I sound this does mean more money for me to fix this stuff, i dont know how to fix phones at the moment hopefully its not too different

 

Happens all the time.  In fact, gaming consoles work well under the same premise.  I am very pro PC gaming, and I am also a game developer.  Gaming consoles have severely stunted the progression of technology in games.  However, this means that I will pretty much always have a job because we are unable to make the single most greatest game with the best tech since the "next best thing" is always the smallest of iterations.  Also, Intel, I am looking at you...  <_<

[Tonylu1595]

depends on the state :<

I would search that up but on second thought, maybe its better not to.

[StareX]

You cant just factory data wipe the phone in recovery?

Nope...