- Jan 24, 2011
- 9,379
Online criminals are always seeking out tactics that would help monetize their activities. Potential victims repeatedly fall for the traps that cybercriminals set up such as when they end up downloading malware instead of freeware or pornographic materials. Oftentimes, the realization that their machine is being held ransom comes too late.
One method often used involves disabling the functionality of the compromised computer until the victim dials a premium-rate SMS number. One such cybercriminal operation involves a recent SMS ransomware campaign that has been targeting Internet users in Russia and demanding a 360-RUR (about US$12) ransom. Affected systems would consistently display the image below and prevent users from accessing their desktops and applications until they provide the required ransom.
In this particular example, users downloaded a file detected by Trend Micro as WORM_RIXOBOT.A. The file was downloaded from a single website over 137,000 times in December 2010 alone, mostly by users from Russia. In this case, the worm was downloaded from a pornographic website. However, it may have also been propagated through other means.
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One method often used involves disabling the functionality of the compromised computer until the victim dials a premium-rate SMS number. One such cybercriminal operation involves a recent SMS ransomware campaign that has been targeting Internet users in Russia and demanding a 360-RUR (about US$12) ransom. Affected systems would consistently display the image below and prevent users from accessing their desktops and applications until they provide the required ransom.
In this particular example, users downloaded a file detected by Trend Micro as WORM_RIXOBOT.A. The file was downloaded from a single website over 137,000 times in December 2010 alone, mostly by users from Russia. In this case, the worm was downloaded from a pornographic website. However, it may have also been propagated through other means.
Read more
