Sign in / up

back to article Sexbomb pop minstrel Taylor Swift PORN FIB used to lure fanbois

Miscreants have brewed up a FBI-themed ransomware scam aimed at Apple users that relies on malicious JavaScript code rather than a conventional trojan. The scam prompted a warning from the FBI-backed Internet Crime Complaint Centre on Thursday, and a denial that it was anything to do with the Feds. The ploy represents a …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Jerome Segura, a senior security researcher at Malwarebytes, came across the scam via a Bing Images search for Taylor Swift."

    This was after doing Bing searches for photos of Alicia Keyes, Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. Who knew having a thing for young American female singers could be a career advancer.

    PS. Yes, assume a joke icon.

    1 0
    1. adnim
      Reply Icon

      Should I know

      who Taylor Swift is?

      Am I missing out on something that is essential for my continued existence and happiness?

      3 0
      1. J 3
        Reply Icon
        Joke

        Re: Should I know

        I don't know about existence, but your happiness will be much obliged if go on not hearing her music. Pictures are fine though.

        5 0
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Gosh

      Not quite a malware issue, that it goes no further than your browser.

      Re-set Safari, kill off the cookies and history and hey presto.

      I don't think this will panic Mac user too much, and it's not like a windows infection that goes to the heart of the software is it?

      1 9
    3. Velv
      Reply Icon
      Paris Hilton

      "Ah, so you want to be a Security Research. Welcome. I'm afraid you'll need to start at the bottom of the ladder, spending all day searching the web for young attractive women"

      Where do I sign?

      1 1
  2. Mike Bell

    Don't Reset Safari

    The advice in that video should be ignored. After force-quitting Safari, just hold down the Shift key when starting up Safari again, and it will duly oblige by not opening the last page it was looking at.

    11 0
  3. Herby

    Taylor Swift is...

    A female twenty-something singer/performer that some people drool over here in the USA. Your mileage may vary.

    0 0
    1. Goldmember
      Reply Icon

      Re: Taylor Swift is...

      Personally, I don't get it. I've seen her plenty of times in pictures, and she's certainly no Jessica Alba.

      Plus, her 'singing' voice is whiney, weak and just plain awful.

      0 0
    2. Beachrider
      Reply Icon

      Re: Taylor Swift is...

      USA Country-pop just doesn't sell well with sophisticated European audiences, though.

      0 0
  4. ShrNfr

    This is why they invented the NoScript add on. Also useful for blocking other things too.

    4 1
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Does that even work in Safari? I thought it was for Firefox only.

      I do use it, and it is useful. It is however, quite annoying when a website spreads the JavaScript it uses over about 30 separate hosts and domains. (TheRegister spreads itself over four!)

      3 0
      1. Big-nosed Pengie
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        "I do use it, and it is useful. It is however, quite annoying when a website spreads the JavaScript it uses over about 30 separate hosts and domains. (TheRegister spreads itself over four!)"

        I find it quite useful. Any web site that does that and requires me to approve scripts from sites that I don't know and trust before it'll work gets an instant "close tab". Bloody idiots.

        2 0
      2. Mystic Megabyte
        Reply Icon
        Big Brother

        I use NoScript and Ghostery*.

        This has the advantage of when you select "Temporarily allow all this page" in NoScript then Ghostery will put up a brief notification showing all the blocked trackers.

        Try the Telegraph to see what I mean. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

        *and RefControl and BetterPrivacy and AdBlockPlus

        1 0
  5. Crisp
    Coat

    Jerome Segura, came across the scam via a Bing Images search for Taylor Swift.

    Yeah, that's what I'd tell my employer too if I got caught doing an image search for Taylor Swift!

    Uh! Security research! Look! There's a new Javascript exploit right there!

    Now to look for images of Taylor Momsen...

    1 0
  6. BornToWin

    The people who write and distribute...

    ...this SCUMWARE should be hung by their balls for about six months until they have a clue.

    0 1
  7. Matt Newton

    I got this the other day browsing a torrent site. Hadn't clicked anything, suddenly my monitors all got covered in this warning - pic of a friendly police man with his arms folded and all this text about laws I'd violated including terrorism, violent or sadistic websites and child porn... but if, IF, I was to pay $99 to Nottinghamshire Police and super super promised not to do it again, it'd be viewed as a "caution" and it'd be ok.

    What first alerted me to the fact it might be suspicious was that they were asking in dollars. That and the obvious :D

    But yeah - I've seen it and that was on Chrome / Win 7.

    Reboot fixed it. Scratched that torrent site off my bookmarks.

    0 1
  8. SYNTAX__ERROR

    John Leyden

    Still haven't succeeded in learning to write cogent sentences, I see.

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like