Ransom trojan demands Windows re-activation

Criminals make money through calls to supposedly free phone number.

A new piece of ransomware has been discovered that shows the PC user a blue screen and asks them to re-activate

Windows

by calling a supposedly free phone number.

As it turns out, the number is far from free and is a way for the malware authors to make money from this trojan. On dialling the number a computerised voice gives the user the unlock code – but not before more than three minutes of waiting. The unlock code is always

1351236

. Users who find themselves infected with this trojan are urged not to call any of the numbers displayed on the screen but to enter this code directly. In general, users should be highly suspiscious about claims made by warnings that appear unexpectedly.

More can be found at

F-Secure

‘s blog

here

, which also includes an instructive video about the trojan and about ransomware in general.

Posted on 12 April 2011 by

Virus Bulletin