Call it Internet imitating real life! The hostage
and ransom situation is coming to the cyber space
in the form of a Trojan that holds up your files for
a cool $300. You pay up the money to get your files
back. Bold and bizarre? You bet!
Experts at MicroWorld
Technologies inform that the Trojan named ‘Win32.Zippo.10’
or ‘cryzip’ is a sophisticated variety that
encrypts user files into Zip format. Once your data
is locked up, you are left with a ransom note kept
in a file ‘AUTO_ZIP_REPORT.txt’
Written in poor English fraught with typos, the threat
message goes like this, "INSTRUCTIONS HOW
TO GET YUOR FILES BACK READ CAREFULLY. Your computer
catched our software while browsing illigal porn pages,
all your documents, text files, databases was archived
with long enought password."
It warns strictly against any attempt at cracking
the password of the encrypted data. To get the files
back you can pay the ransom of $300 to an E-Gold account
owned by the Trojan creator. A random E-Gold account
number gets displayed at the top of the mail from
a smartly embedded list. The culprit operates with
numerous accounts that make it hard to pin him down.
“This online extortion is direct and on the
face! The ploy can be quite effective in a targeted
attack on sensitive and confidential files of a corporate
house or an individual. To safeguard the information
integrity, one would just like to get done with it
by paying the sum,” views Govind Rammurthy, CEO,
MicroWorld Technologies.
Originated in May 2005, this brand of Trojan is generically
referred to as ‘ransomware’. Technologically,
they are advancing and evolving to make it hard to
detect for many AntiVirus solutions that merely depend
on signature scanning. Since the writer of the Trojan
seems to be quite an expert, high variance in code
pattern and fundamental mutations are observed.
“The degree of proliferation is low at this
point of time, primarily due to the targeted nature
of attack. These guys deliberately keep a low profile
to escape wide-spread attention as they mean business,”
points out Govind Rammurthy.
MicroWorld security
solutions eScan
and MailScan
are updated automatically to ensure round the clock
protection for users from new and emerging threats
like these. You change your code or change your face,
but you can’t escape the MicroWorld
RADAR. Because it firmly believes in staunchly protecting
users from broad day light robbery on Information
Super Highway.
MicroWorld
MicroWorld (www.mwti.net)
are the developers of the world's first Real-Time
AntiVirus and Content Security software eScan
for desktops and servers. Its communication security
software, MailScan
is the first comprehensive e-mail scanner for your
SMTP/POP3 Mail Server. MicroWorld
Winsock Layer (MWL) is the revolutionary technology
underlying these products, powering them to several
certifications and awards by some of the most prestigious
testing bodies, notable among them being Virus Bulletin,
Checkmark, TUCOWS, Red Hat Ready, and Novell Ready.
Combining their powerful scanner with MWL technology,
MicroWorld solutions provide a Real-Time Proactive
security for your systems. For network security of
enterprises, eConceal Firewall is the latest
powerful offering from MicroWorld.
To learn more, kindly visit http://www.mwti.net.
