TorrentLocker belongs to the crypto-ransomware family and is designed to encrypt all the files on a machine and any server it is attached to.
Liberal Democrat Councillor for the East Marsh Learn more
by Steve Beasant on 13 July, 2015
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) is warning people of emails being sent by cyber criminals claiming to be from British Gas, Ministry of Justice and Home Office that contain TorrentLocker ransomware.
TorrentLocker belongs to the crypto-ransomware family and is designed to encrypt all the files on a machine and any server it is attached to.
In order to retrieve the files a ransom demand is made and is usually requested to be paid in Bitcoin. One victim who reported to Action Fraud said after their computer was infected with the ransomware it demanded the equivalent of £330 in Bitcoin.
The NFIB has identified two main methods currently being used by cyber criminals to trick victims to downloading the virus:
In a new twist, if you follow the link instead of downloading the attachment you are asked to fill in a CAPTCHA box with the code provided (recently seen by TrendMicro). Once the code is submitted, TorrentLocker will download onto your machine and will immediately encrypt all your files and demand a ransom.
The NFIB have said that these emails are targeting individuals and businesses. Some Anti-Virus vendors like Trend Micro are detecting these scam emails and are stopping pages/documents from being opened.
How to protect yourself:
To report a fraud and receive a police crime reference number, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use their online fraud reporting tool.
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