New blackmailing Trojan encrypts files using high-grade 1024-bit RSA key

By Gregg Keizer

June 8, 2008 (Computerworld) A security company on Friday asked for help cracking an encryption key central to an extortion scheme that demands money from users whose PCs have been infected by malware.

Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-based antivirus firm, put out the call for assistance after it discovered a new variant of Gpcode, a Trojan horse that has been used in isolated "ransomware" attacks for the past two years.

In ransomware attacks, hackers plant malware that encrypts files and then displays a message demanding money to unlock the data. In the case of the newest Gpcode, 143 different file types are encrypted, including .bak, .doc, .jpg and .pdf.

Read more here.

New blackmailing Trojan encrypts files using high-grade 1024-bit RSA key

By Gregg Keizer

June 8, 2008 (Computerworld) A security company on Friday asked for help cracking an encryption key central to an extortion scheme that demands money from users whose PCs have been infected by malware.

Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-based antivirus firm, put out the call for assistance after it discovered a new variant of Gpcode, a Trojan horse that has been used in isolated "ransomware" attacks for the past two years.

In ransomware attacks, hackers plant malware that encrypts files and then displays a message demanding money to unlock the data. In the case of the newest Gpcode, 143 different file types are encrypted, including .bak, .doc, .jpg and .pdf.

Read more here.