The new computer scam

[Ole Anderson]

It wasn't Cryptolocker (or many of its variants), then... your drive is encrypted before you get the screen of death.

Has any one posting here actually had an experience with ransomware other than me? Wondering if the encryption of all of your files actually happens or is just an empty scary threat? I would think encryption of your files would take a long time and would drag your computer to its knees, giving you a clue that something is wrong. I don't believe any of my 3 or 4 experiences with the FBI screen (not always the same one) has anything to do with encryption. What is does is that it locks you out from stopping the program from running. You know something is drastically wrong and you panic trying all you can do to get it to stop until you realize the only way to do it is to pull the power plug and restart in safe mode and do a restore to a previous state. Or if your don't know much about computers, pay the $500 or buy a new computer or hard drive.

[Dan Hintz]

On the other hand, there are ways that a bit coin may be identified later after it is spent in a way that is even more traceable than cash (according to forbes), so if they do it long enough, and if officials take interest in them, their choice of payment options may make them more likely to be caught down the road.

This statement isn't correct, at least as written. A single bitcoin cannot be identified, but in aggregate, the traffic for a number of bitcoins can be traced to a source/destination, if (and that's a big "if") certain conditions are met. One of those conditions is needing control of one or more entry/exit nodes for the P2P network. This will require a large amount of coin traffic, and it will never be 100% accurate (but it will get you close enough for a judge to say it's acceptable for a warrant). The average user will not get snagged, but the clearing house will.

[Scott Shepherd]

Ole, I think we're talking about two different things. The FBI warning message is malware that's been around for at least 5 years now. I've seen that thing on a number of people's computers that have called me for help. It's also fairly easy to remove.

The one in the article I posted, doesn't give you an FBI warning, and it apparently does encrypt files, otherwise the police department's IT people wouldn't have had an issue in solving it. The police department actually paid the ransom and it was released.

Of course that brings to mind many, many questions about how they run the computer network at that police department, but that's another story

[Wade Lippman]

I'm sure it makes hiding money easier, but in reality, bitcoin is being used for a lot of legitimate transactions. Amazon, Target, CVS, Microsoft, Dell, etc. all take bitcoins and I don't think they are all fostering illegal transactions.

They take them but that doesn't mean there is any benefit to it. If the only benefit is to criminals, then why is it allowed.
For legitimate purposes CC or cash work just as well, but bitcoins are a huge benefit to crime.

I know, I know; the constitution allows it, so the government shouldn't stop it. After all, the bad things happen to those other people we don't care about.

[Scott Shepherd]

They take them but that doesn't mean there is any benefit to it. If the only benefit is to criminals, then why is it allowed.
For legitimate purposes CC or cash work just as well, but bitcoins are a huge benefit to crime.

The majority of illegal businesses are done with cash. So how's bitcoin any different than cash in that respect? Constitution? Bitcoin? I didn't see that one coming.

[Barry McFadden]

I have a system that I always follow that would be handy in this situation as well as times when a virus causes problems or a hard drive crashes. I went out and bought the identical hard drive that is in my pc..(just happens to be a Seagate)..then I used Seagate Discwizard to make a complete drive copy and make it bootable. I keep the spare drive on the shelf and about every month I put it in the pc and make a complete drive copy over to it again. I then take it out and put it back on the shelf. If I ever have a situation such as is being talked about here or any other hard drive issue I can just take my spare drive off the shelf and install it in my pc and I'm back up and running again...possibly in the past month since it was drive copied I may loose a few things but I would be pretty much back to normal.

[Wade Lippman]

The majority of illegal businesses are done with cash. So how's bitcoin any different than cash in that respect? Constitution? Bitcoin? I didn't see that one coming.

It is really tough to pay off ransomware with cash, really easy with bitcoin.
It is really tough to mail order illegal drugs with cash, really easy with bitcoin.
Bitcoin is sending cash anonymously over the internet; a criminal's dream; and pretty useless for anything else.

If you can't see the difference it must be because you don't want to; because it is pretty obvious.

[Wade Lippman]

I have a system that I always follow that would be handy in this situation as well as times when a virus causes problems or a hard drive crashes. I went out and bought the identical hard drive that is in my pc..(just happens to be a Seagate)..then I used Seagate Discwizard to make a complete drive copy and make it bootable. I keep the spare drive on the shelf and about every month I put it in the pc and make a complete drive copy over to it again. I then take it out and put it back on the shelf. If I ever have a situation such as is being talked about here or any other hard drive issue I can just take my spare drive off the shelf and install it in my pc and I'm back up and running again...possibly in the past month since it was drive copied I may loose a few things but I would be pretty much back to normal.

And you do a normal backup on top of that so you don't needlessly lose 30 days of work, right?
And when you say you put it in the computer, you mean you leave it in the computer and just disconnect the cable, right?

[Andrew Pitonyak]

It is really tough to pay off ransomware with cash, really easy with bitcoin.
It is really tough to mail order illegal drugs with cash, really easy with bitcoin.
Bitcoin is sending cash anonymously over the internet; a criminal's dream; and pretty useless for anything else.

If you can't see the difference it must be because you don't want to; because it is pretty obvious.

Don't forget about encryption..... Makes it easy to hide electronic stuff.

[Scott Shepherd]

and pretty useless for anything else.

Amazon, Microsoft, Dell, etc. would disagree with you.

[Barry McFadden]

no I don't bother with a normal backup as it is not a work computer so there is nothing really important that I would loose in 30 days. The side panel if off my computer so I just plug the spare drive in then disconnect it again (the drive is actually sitting on my desk when I do this)

[Mark Nottage]

The ransom ware locks the computer so badly that you can't even pull up Task Manager (control+alt+delete) to stop the program from running (doing bad things?) nor can you stop it by hitting your off button, or with a laptop, pulling the cord out of the wall if you are plugged in. So if you ever get that ransom screen, stop the computer immediately, don't even try to just stop the program from running as the first thing it does is lock you out. Maybe they were different programs or I was able to stop them before the dreaded encryption (which I imagine takes time). But the program, pretending to be the FBI, accuses you of illegal acts, (piracy or child porn and so on) and demands that you send them money as a "fine" in order to unlock your computer. Happened three times to me on various sites, which I don't even remember which ones. Not saying there are worse programs than the ones I ran into, just that I found an easy way to sidestep the ones I ran into when they occurred.

I run no virus software, no malware software or anything like that. I haven't had a virus in 18 years. I spend hours lurking around the dark parts of the Internet (weird hobby of mine) and have been on some shady sites and I have NEVER had ransomware or anything pop up.

Now my question is, what types of sites are YOU going to? Haha

[Dave Zellers]

You are livin' on the edge dude.

Playing with fire.

Burning the candle at both ends.

Tempting fate...

the very best of luck to you...

[Scott Shepherd]

I run no virus software, no malware software or anything like that. I haven't had a virus in 18 years. I spend hours lurking around the dark parts of the Internet (weird hobby of mine) and have been on some shady sites and I have NEVER had ransomware or anything pop up.

Now my question is, what types of sites are YOU going to? Haha

How would you know that if you aren't running anything? I'd bet you a doughnut that if you installed something and scanned your system, it would find 100's of things. We've run our accounting computer for the last 4 years without protection and the person that uses it doesn't go to any dark or bad sites. It's strictly a work computer. We installed protection about 2 weeks ago, it found about 30 malware items on it.

If you're purposely going to the dark parts of the internet and you think you don't have anything on your system, I'd guess you're wrong.

[Tony Zona]

Can somebody please give me an example of "dark parts of the Internet?" I'm serious.