98.6% of TorrentLocker Victims Refuse to Pay Bitcoin Ransom
98.55% of victims targeted by TorrentLocker do not pay the virus' bitcoin ransom, according to a new report. TorrentLocker (aka Win32 or Filecoder. DI) is a strain of bitcoin ransomware that works by encrypting users' files. Victims are requested to pay up to 4 BTC to decrypt their documents, though this figure can vary. The report, authored by Marc-Etienne M Léveillé for security firm ESET, found that only 570 out of 39,760 infected systems were given access to decryption software upon paying the full ransom. "In other words 1.44% of all infected users we have identified have paid the....
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TorrentLocker is one of the cyber world's most recent forms of ransomware, infecting several computer systems all over the globe and taking data hostage, refusing to release it unless a bitcoin ransom is paid. As of now, the primary victims appear to be countries in Europe. Nations such as Italy, Germany, France, Spain and the Czech Republic are on the list of prime targets, along with other nations such as the U. K., Australia and Canada. But a big shocker, however, is that out of approximately 40,000 victims only about 570 have ultimately paid the bitcoin ransom that TorrentLocker....
A City of London cybercrime unit – the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) - has issued a warning for TorrentLocker ransomware disguised to look as if it's sent from UK institutions and corporations such as the Ministry of Justice, Home Office, and British Gas. TorrentLocker is malicious software that holds a computer for “ransom” until a certain amount of bitcoin is paid. TorrentLocker is a clone of CryptoLocker, and as such works in a similar manner. Unsuspecting targets of TorrentLocker are usually sent an e-mail, and tricked into opening and installing an attachment. Once they....
A UK cybersecurity watchdog has issued a warning about new bitcoin ransomware attacks disguised as messages from several government agencies. According to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), unknown parties have been reported spoofing emails from the UK Home Office and Ministry of Justice, as well as from domestic energy giant British Gas. The emails are being used to distribute TorrentLocker, one of a number of malware variants that, when activated, lock up a user's files unless a ransom in bitcoin is paid. A report last year found that the vast majority of TorrentLocker....
The FBI has changed its stance on ransomware extortionists saying people targeted should refuse to pay the bitcoin ransom despite a previous statement from the FBI encouraging victims to pay a ransom. At a recent Federal Trade Commission’s Fall Technology Series, supervisory special agent for the FBI’s Cyber Division, Will Bales, said that businesses or individuals targeted by ransomware should refuse to pay the ransom, as reported in Dark Reading. He said: People have to remember that ransomware does not affect just one person or one business. It will more than likely move on and affect....
WARNING! There is a new ransomware on the block. With great power comes great responsibility! However, it is unfortunate that cybercriminals are leveraging upon the power of bitcoin (especially anonymity and ease of transfer) for all the wrong purposes. Recently many computers around the world were targeted by multiple ransomware. These ransomware - TorrentLocker, CTB-Locker and the latest TeslaCrypt enters the computer through infected files that the user might have downloaded as an email attachment or a software patch/ plugin. Once written to disk, they gain access to stored data to....