back to article Scareware package incorporates file ransom trickery

Cybercrooks have combined two threats with a fake anti-virus package that holds files for ransom. The malware comes in the guise of a utility called Antivirus2009 that claims to have located corrupted files on affected systems. Prospective marks are told they are need to download a package dubbed FileFix Professional to …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    conflicting messages...

    So we have antivirus2009 taking your files hostage and telling you to get FileFix pro to get them back. So we should probably stop trusting what software tells us and make our own minds up right?

    Oh, but then there's the web-based service that we should allow full access to our files to regain our files. Right. Not at all going to confuse the average user on the what you should allow/what you shouldn't allow.

    The way FireEye are doing this is just going to fuel scareware even more as users begin to see allowing websites unfettered file access as a Good Thing (c).

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @AC

    Actually they have provided the perl script, the online thing is only for the people who can't run it themselves

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    scammers and liars.

    I guess they cant tdo much about these scammers and liars, otherwise they would have to go after all the other scammers and liars, who would we vote for then?

  4. william henderson

    back up

    regularly and every time a high value item is added to the my documents file.

    a daily back up to a usb drive is simple and cheap.

    no excuses for nor doing so.

  5. A J Stiles
    Gates Horns

    Bah

    Why the *fuck* is *anyone* still running Windows?

    For fuck's sake, it's less effort to go back to doing stuff by hand than it is to keep a bunch of Windows boxes malware-free.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If a "fix" to a scam is being "sold" by the scammer ...

    then some money is changing hands, and its presumably not being done in cash.

    That money, surely, is passing through some sort of money transfer service. Initially, maybe, to a middleman who doesn't know what it is for ... and via countries whose police may or may not be very competent or very co-operative ... but sooner or later that money has to end up with somebody who knows who is doing this.

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