Advertise On EU-Digest

Annual Advertising Rates

3/4/13

Europol stops a gang responsible for spreading ransomware viruses

European police agency, also known as Europol, has finally stopped a huge network of online criminals who have been spreading the biggest threat of the last year – Ukash virus. In fact, there are more than 48 versions of this threat. According to their news conference in Madrid, the gang has infected millions of computers, including hundreds of thousands of Europeans. In addition, they have managed to extort millions of dollars.

Pretending to be governmental organizations, these viruses have been spreading around in 30 nations. Mostly, scammers have been distributing them via a socially engineered messages. Once inside, they have been immediately blocking the system and then displaying a message reporting that this was done due to illegal user’s activity on the Internet. Additionally, these viruses were asking to pay fines of $100, 100 euros or 100 pounds in order to unblock the system. According to Europol, 3 percent of victims have paid this fine.

This gang is believed to consist of six Russians, two Ukrainians, and two Georgians. They all were arrested on Spain’s Costa del Sols some days ago. The leader of this group is a 27-year-old Russian,who was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in December.

Read more: Europol stops a gang responsible for spreading ransomware viruses - spyware news

No comments: