[12-21-2013] Police pay $750 ransom in Bitcoin after CrypotLocker virus attack

[BitcoinWalker]

http://shopping.yahoo.com/blogs/digital-crave/police-pay-750-ransom-bitcoins-crypotlocker-virus-attack-183520470.html

[Rannasha]

That's what you get for not making backups.

[bryant.coleman]

I read somewhere that these crooks have already made somewhere between $30 million and $100 million from ransom payments alone. They are causing quite a bit of negative publicity for the Bitcoin.

[plex_brahial]

so its a fixed ammount that is payed every time. Cant you track wallets that receive 750$ constantly from diffrent parts of the world and hold a lot of bitcoins. This is in the case that they hold the bitcoins in just a few wallets

[Gabi]

That is who wants to regulate and control the people? Lol

[kjlimo]

so its a fixed ammount that is payed every time. Cant you track wallets that receive 750$ constantly from diffrent parts of the world and hold a lot of bitcoins. This is in the case that they hold the bitcoins in just a few wallets

Yeah, I think someone is keeping track of which addresses are receiving the ransom payments.

I'm sure it will be big news if anyone goes to spend them.

It will need to be self policed.

[Mike Christ]

Are people getting infected for reasons they can't help, or are they just being careless?

[kjlimo]

Are people getting infected for reasons they can't help, or are they just being careless?

Probably a little of both.

[Gabi]

Are people getting infected for reasons they can't help, or are they just being careless?

They don't care, they don't know anything about pc, they don't want to learn.

[oakpacific]

Are people getting infected for reasons they can't help, or are they just being careless?

People design the software to be foolproof, rather than virus-proof.

Having said that, cops are not supposed to be as vulnerable as your grandma, if their computers can be so easily infected, there is nothing stopping a criminal from planting a trojan inside their computer and tapping every move of them.

[bryant.coleman]

Are people getting infected for reasons they can't help, or are they just being careless?

Read somewhere that none of the Anti-Virus programs are currently able to block this particular trojan, with the exception of CryptoPrevent.

And the users being careless... well it is difficult to answer. The virus is mainly being spread through emails. The crooks will send emails which look exactly like the one which comes from your Bank or your Employer. If you open the files attached with the mail, your system will get infected. On a first look, the attached file just looks like a PDF file. But be careful! The extension is not *.PDF but rather it is *.PDF.EXE