Leary of being infected with ransomware? Afraid you may have your files encrypted and locked? A new form of ransomware is making the rounds that will just annoy the hell out of you.
Yes, someone is spreading ransomware that locks your system until you fill out a survey. GData security researcher Karsten Hahn is the one that discovered the malware.
Once the victim fills out the survey, a window pops up and says> "Thank you for supporting me." It's unknown how the hacker is making money off of this scam, but it’s possible that he is in some way being paid if the victims fill out the survey.
Thought the malware does not appear to be completely finished, Bleeping Computer’s Lawrence Abrams theorizes that eventually the text file will contain code to unlock the screen.
Hahn has dubbed it a “survey locker,” given that it doesn’t appear to actually lock or encrypt your files.
“You just have to get rid of the malware and your system is fine,” Hahn told Motherboard. “[And] there are always ways around the screen locking.”