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<div class="">December 5, 2012</div>
<h1>For PC Virus Victims, Pay or Else</h1>
<h6 class="">By
<span>
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/nicole_perlroth/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by NICOLE PERLROTH"><span>NICOLE PERLROTH</span></a></span></h6>
<div id="articleBody">
<p>
CULVER CITY, Calif. — Kidnappers used to make ransom notes with letters
cut out of magazines. Now, notes simply pop up on your computer screen,
except the hostage is your PC. </p>
<p>
In the past year, hundreds of thousands of people across the world have
switched on their computers to find distressing messages alerting them
that they no longer have access to their PCs or any of the files on
them. </p>
<p>
The messages claim to be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, some
20 other law enforcement agencies across the globe or, most recently, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/anonymous_internet_group/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Anonymous (Internet Group)." class="">Anonymous</a>,
a shadowy group of hackers. The computer users are told that the only
way to get their machines back is to pay a steep fine. </p>
<p>
And, curiously, it’s working. The scheme is making more than $5 million a
year, according to computer security experts who are tracking them.
</p>
<p>
The scourge dates to 2009 in Eastern Europe. Three years later, with
business booming, the perpetrators have moved west. Security experts say
that there are now more than 16 gangs of sophisticated criminals
extorting millions from victims across Europe. </p>
<p>
The threat, known as ransomware, recently hit the United States. Some
gangs have abandoned previously lucrative schemes, like fake antivirus
scams and banking trojans, to focus on ransomware full time. </p>
<p>
Essentially online extortion, ransomware involves infecting a user’s
computer with a virus that locks it. The attackers demand money before
the computer will be unlocked, but once the money is paid, they rarely
unlock it. </p>
<p>
In the vast majority of cases, victims do not regain access to their
computer unless they hire a computer technician to remove the virus
manually. And even then, they risk losing all files and data because the
best way to remove the virus is to wipe the computer clean. </p>
<p>
It may be hard to fathom why anyone would agree to fork over hundreds of
dollars to a demanding stranger, but security researchers estimate that
2.9 percent of compromised computer owners take the bait and pay. That,
they say, is an extremely conservative estimate. In some countries, the
payout rate has been as high as 15 percent. </p>
<p>
That people do fall for it is a testament to criminals’ increasingly
targeted and inventive methods. Early variations of ransomware locked
computers, displayed images of pornography and, in Russian, demanded a
fee — often more than $400 — to have it removed. Current variants are
more targeted and toy with victims’ consciences. </p>
<p>
Researchers say criminals now use victims’ Internet addresses to
customize ransom notes in their native tongue. Instead of pornographic
images, criminals flash messages from local law enforcement agencies
accusing them of visiting illegal pornography, gambling or piracy sites
and demand they pay a fine to unlock their computer. </p>
<p>
Victims in the United States see messages in English purporting to be
from the F.B.I. or Justice Department. In the Netherlands, people get a
similar message, in Dutch, from the local police. (Some Irish variations
even demand money in Gaelic.) The latest variants speak to victims
through recorded audio messages that tell users that if they do not pay
within 48 hours, they will face criminal charges. Some even show footage
from a computer’s webcam to give the illusion that law enforcement is
watching. </p>
<p>
The messages often demand that victims buy a preloaded debit card that
can be purchased at a local drugstore — and enter the PIN. That way it’s
impossible for victims to cancel the transaction once it becomes clear
that criminals have no intention of unlocking their PC. </p>
<p>
The hunt is on to find these gangs. Researchers at Symantec said they
had identified 16 ransomware gangs. They tracked one gang that tried to
infect more than 500,000 PCs over an 18-day period. But even if
researchers can track their Internet addresses, catching and convicting
those responsible can be difficult. It requires cooperation among global
law enforcement, and such criminals are skilled at destroying evidence.
</p>
<p>
Charlie Hurel, an independent security researcher based in France, was
able to hack into one group’s computers to discover just how gullible
their victims could be. On one day last month, the criminals’ accounting
showed that they were able to infect 18,941 computers, 93 percent of
all attempts. Of those who received a ransom message that day, 15
percent paid. In most cases, Mr. Hurel said, hackers demanded 100 euros,
making their haul for one day’s work more than $400,000. </p>
<p>
That is significantly more than hackers were making from fake antivirus
schemes a few years ago, when so-called “scareware” was at its peak and
criminals could make as much as $158,000 in one week. </p>
<p>
Scareware dropped significantly last year after a global clampdown by
law enforcement and private security researchers. Internecine war
between scareware gangs put the final nail in the coffin. As Russian
criminal networks started fighting for a smaller share of profits, they
tried to take each other out with denial of service attacks. </p>
<p>
Now, security researchers are finding that some of the same criminals
who closed down scareware operations as recently as a year ago are back
deploying ransomware. </p>
<p>
“Things went quiet,” said Eric Chien, a researcher at Symantec who has
been tracking ransomware scams. “Now we are seeing a sudden ramp-up of
ransomware using similar methods.” </p>
<p>
Victims become infected in many ways. In most cases, people visit
compromised Web sites that download the program to their machines
without so much as a click. Criminals have a penchant for infecting
pornography sites because it makes their law enforcement threats more
credible and because embarrassing people who were looking at pornography
makes them more likely to pay. Symantec’s researchers say there is also
evidence that they are paying advertisers on sex-based sites to feature
malicious links that download ransomware onto victims’ machines.
</p>
<p>
“As opposed to fooling you, criminals are now bullying users into paying
them by pretending the cops are banging down their doors,” said Kevin
Haley, Symantec’s director of security response. </p>
<p>
More recently, researchers at Sophos, a British computer security
company, noted that thousands of people were getting ransomware through
sites hosted by GoDaddy, the popular Web services company that manages
some 50 million domain names and hosts about five million Web sites on
its servers. </p>
<p>
Sophos said hackers were breaking into GoDaddy users’ accounts with
stolen passwords and setting up what is known as a subdomain. So instead
of, say, <a target="_" href="http://www.nameofsite.com">www.nameofsite.com</a>, hackers would set up the Web address <a target="_" href="http://nameofsite.blog.com">nameofsite.blog.com</a>,
then send e-mails to customers with the link to the subdomain which —
because it appeared to come from a trusted source — was more likely to
lure clicks. </p>
<p>
Scott Gerlach, GoDaddy’s director of information security operations,
said it appeared the accounts had been compromised because account
owners independently clicked on a malicious link or were compromised by a
computer virus that stole password credentials. He advised users to
enable <a title="GoDaddy two-stepr authentication." href="http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/7502/enabling-twostep-authentication">GoDaddy’s two-step authentication option</a>,
which sends a second password to users’ cellphones every time they try
to log in, preventing criminals from cracking their account with one
stolen password and alerting users when they try. </p>
<p>
One of the scarier things about ransomware is that criminals can use
victims’ machines however they like. While the computer is locked, the
criminals can steal passwords and even get into the victims’ online bank
accounts. </p>
<p>
Security experts warn to never pay the ransom. A number of vendors offer
solutions for unlocking machines without paying the ransom, including
Symantec, Sophos and F-Secure. The best solution is to visit a local
repair shop to wipe the machine clean and reinstall backup files and
software. </p>
<p>
“This is the new Nigerian e-mail scam,” Mr. Haley said. “We’ll be talking about this for the next two years.” </p>
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