'Ransomware' wave growing across United States

Posted by $ nickursis 8 years, 7 months ago to Government
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This is what government exists for, and like so much of the current one, it fails miserably at doing it. It would not be a hard thing to get the records needed to find the site where this came from, and go after them. International agreements be damned, this is an attack on our country. It is not the first, many government agencies have been done in and the idiots pay instead of having current backups they can fall back on. But if they went and found the criminals, took them out and shot them, I bet it would stop pretty quick. Pure BS that this can happen. Also to protect yourself, do NOT backup to a drive inside the PC, use a seperate backup drive and keep it disconnected. That way, you can always restore your files and flip these idiots the bird.
SOURCE URL: http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/04/technology/ransomware-cybercrime/index.html


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  • Posted by ewv 8 years, 6 months ago
    "It would not be a hard thing to get the records needed to find the site where this came from..."

    The typical current strategy seems to be to use encrypted connections that can't be easily traced, if at all. A legitimate website can be hacked and infected, temporary email addresses on foreign servers used to send infected mail, and internet connections of the criminals and their means of receiving the bit coin payoffs are encrypted to be untraceable.

    NSA and the FBI are more interested in breaking our security and exploiting vulnerabilities that they find rather than alerting people to vulnerabilities when found and protecting citizens from attacks.
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    • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 6 months ago
      We actually had a couple business partners get hit by this. They had to pay more than $1000 to get the key to unlock their corporate data because the virus is smart enough to encrypt data on mapped drives. We helped them get their systems back and told them to get a good firewall.

      They didn't, and got hit a second time a few weeks later.

      [facepalm]
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    • Posted by $ Snezzy 8 years, 6 months ago
      When I get spam e-mail it usually seems to come from some innocent person totally unassociated with it. Sometimes it appears to come from ME! Naively trying to trace back to the perpetrator is WORSE than useless.

      I've had no problems with ransomeware thus far, probably because I do not have any MS Windows systems. Occasionally I notice that an "interesting" file offered for download is a MS ".exe" file in disguise. Since my system cannot execute a file like that it likely cannot cause me harm.
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      • Posted by ewv 8 years, 6 months ago
        The From address in spam is almost always forged and tells you nothing about where it came from. To trace it you have to analyze the Received headers. The easiest way to do that is through http://spamcop.net where you can also report the spam to the source anonymously and contribute to black lists for servers that allow spam.

        When you get spam from what looks like someone you know it is usually because their email has been hacked and taken over. Implicit trust in email that looks like it is from someone you know is a major vulnerability because you are more likely to click on a link you know nothing about and which leads to downloading a virus. Use a secure browser and don't click on links without knowing what you are asking for.
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        • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
          The from address today is meaningless. I have more spam crap show up not only from me, but from people I have known through social sites. Another reason why security should get a much higher value assigned to it on all sources.
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      • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
        I am not sure, but my guess is they can hit even Linux systems, since it is just encrypting the files, not changing them. If the base program is Win, then as long as you are not emulating, you should be ok.
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      • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
        I am not sure, but my guess is they can hit even Linux systems, since it is just encrypting the files, not changing them. If the base program is Win, then as long as you are not emulating, you should be ok.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
      "NSA and the FBI are more interested in breaking our security and exploiting vulnerabilities that they find rather than alerting people to vulnerabilities when found and protecting citizens from attacks"

      Exactly my point. They could turn those resources to more useful, protective pursuits more in line with what government should be doing.
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  • Posted by Ben_C 8 years, 6 months ago
    Had an old website of mine hacked by a person in Ukraine. Typically the site is held for ransom. Once I tracked this individual down I told him to go "love himself." Haven't heard from him since
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  • Posted by Esceptico 8 years, 6 months ago
    The lead sentence: "Computer servers were acting unusual,..." The reporters do not even have a basic command of English. Probably educated in government schools. Since they cannot speak well, perhaps they cannot report well.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
      I did not see that as an issue. The content was trying to make it "interesting" to something most people yawn at. Until they get hit. The school should have had a much tighter security system, as well as restricted privileges for sure
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 8 years, 7 months ago
    Good advice...so much for government protection, hell, the left is probably in on this.
    Had something similar happen to me when I was writing my first book...good thing I had just backed it up in anticipation of sending that back up to the publisher...I did have to buy another computer though...this crap sucks.
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    • Posted by ewv 8 years, 6 months ago
      If you backup the OS with an image file you can restore by overwriting whatever a virus does. If you only have your own program and data files backed up you can re-install the OS and programs. You don't have to buy a new computer.
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      • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 6 months ago
        True, but with this virus it is mostly going after your personal information and encrypting that. And let's be realistic: how many home users and small businesses have a decent-enough disaster recovery system to do this? Almost none.

        Seriously, people: Carbonite or some other nightly backup is worth $5 a month! At least write your photos off onto DVD's - they are virus-proof!
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        • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
          The key thing is to backup to any media that is not connected to a PC, thus eliminating the threat. Most backup software will incrementally backup so you stay current. The Carbonite thing is of course, a very good way to do it, unless they get hacked, of course. The other thing is the predominate model is an email link, or a compromised web site. If you have Win set to ask permission before making changes, that can stop it as well, it is just painful for day to day thing.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 7 months ago
      All the articles I have read say that you much click on an email attachment, or go to a specific spoof website to load ransom ware. I would also say a good package security software like Kaspersky Internet security is pretty good protection, they never tell you how they got infected, just that they did. A goof firewall filter would have stopped the school thing, I think.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 7 months ago
    The safest computers have two things in common. Unplugged from power source. Unplugged from any any modem, wifi whatever connection. nothing new there but the simplicity has evaded people for three decades.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 7 months ago
      Well, this is just something that is really irritating, and costly, to no purpose. It reminds me of the 1800s west. No government should be paying ransom with my tax money.
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    • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 8 years, 7 months ago
      That what I do, ever sense I lost my computer to one of these things...I unplug from everything while I am not using it.
      I used to shut down our modem too until my wife got her "dumb" phone...didn't help matters any when I forgot to plug back in the modem a few times either...
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      • Posted by ewv 8 years, 6 months ago
        Some of the recent attacks have been delayed after initial infection. If you pick up an infection by email or the web you wouldn't know it until it hit a few days later.
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        • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
          I do like Kaspersky Internet Security, because it will have to have the program have your permission to execute, even if delayed, so it will ask you before you kill yourself.I have not had an issue yet with it. I have had a couple bank cards hijacked, and usually from using them in a store reader.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 8 years, 6 months ago
    Couple of these guys heads on a pole with a video of their skin being removed should lift the isolation the collective group feels via the computer Wild West.

    A nice capitalist mercenary could do wonders.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
      Now that sounds like a good idea.
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      • Posted by $ Thoritsu 8 years, 6 months ago
        I'm kind of teasing of course, but a key in this and many distanced offenses is the lack of immediate and apparent consequences. Long-term, the police can track them, and find them, and prosecute them for hundreds of thousands of dollars and over a long time, with a requisite burden of proof and entrapment rules that make the consequences a foggy specter rather than a harsh reality. The same is true for the behavior of people while driving, or even the aggressive comments on a forum or tweet. People would not say some of the things they write in person. These guys are similar.

        Just imagine the response when three 6'4" marines showed up at the home of the pimply twenty-something hackers, without the cops.

        My father in law just got a ransom virus, and I am going to have to wipe his machine. He is a highly irresponsible web surfer though. The worst nightmare for a technically oriented son in law, with a family of non-technical children (doctors, lawyers, nurses).
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        • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
          Well, you could just tell dad to pay up? But I am all for a team that can track them down and I am also ok with "removing the threat" as they say. I do not mean taking their computers away either. It is time there are some serious consequences to such acts, as well as protect free use of technology not hampered by pirates. This goes back to the 1600-1800 period when you could hunt down pirates and after disposing of them, keep the loot. You never hear of any cases against them, or successful breaking of groups, except the odd victory when a company provides the incompetent government it all on a platter. Actually, that might be a good book idea, sort of like a Tom Clancy novel.
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          • Posted by $ Thoritsu 8 years, 6 months ago
            Daddy doesn't even know where the ransom note is, and I can't find it. Can you imagine? The ransom note is missing? However he definitely has the Tesla Virus.
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            • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
              I am not familiar with that one, but usually they are very specific about the ransom, that being the whole point of it. I thought I posted an article where a ransom dude actually went out of his way to detail exactly what people had to do to both pay, and then fix their machines, because he felt sorry for them. One guy took the liberty to use it to find a way to out hack him and offered the fix for free. I liked that idea.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 6 months ago
    Thank you, Nick.
    that's really good advice. My son put me on to that some time ago and while I'm about as unlikely a victim as most private citizens, it still geives me a sense of security knowing the contents of my computer are untouchable. A really good sense of security for $100 to $200.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
      Herb, as ewv says, there is no real "targeting system", just exposure to well concealed bait. A lot of it is so concealed, you can't help but feel sorry for anyone who gets caught, but you have done the right thing. If enough people used a secure, separated backup, and corporations and govt installed restrictions and good firewall defenses, these guys would have to go back to junking cars in Moldova.
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      • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 6 months ago
        Or importing technology from Elbonia.
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        • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
          Actually, I think most of it is pirated or stolen. There is a show on science channel called "What on Earth?" about the stuff they find with satellites. One thing found was a F117 in China, which they decided was a complete mock up to test their newest stolen radar equipment against to be able to detect it, and the Defense Dept just said "what?"
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          • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 6 months ago
            Nick:
            The current administration's anti military attitude allows anything to happen, especially in the Middle East. It's as if the adults have all left the playground.
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            • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
              Herb, that is a clear truth and has been since 2006. It reminds me of Madisons and Jeffersons positions before the War of 1812, and how desperate they got when confronted with it. Especially Madison, who made a whole lot of bad decisions with no knowledge of the facts, especially in the Great Lakes/Canada front. And the Obamanation is no Madison...not even a Hoover...
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 8 years, 6 months ago
    Hello nickursis,
    Our government is inept. They never accomplish anything we would all approve of and to which they have legitimate purpose. Strange how they can break the encryption of a terrorist's Iphone when it suits them. These cyber criminals are scum. If the government can break down Apple's encryption, then I see no excuse for their lack of action. Some private sector solution must be found. The internet security software company that does will rightly profit.
    Respectfully,
    O.A.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
      You are correct, OA, it is their job. Like most else they get involved in, they seem to have their own agenda, and what they should rightfully be doing is not on it. There have been some suggestions for our own use put forth here, and I hope fellow Gulchers look at their stuff and use them. I also like the idea Thoritsu has of a Mercenary capability: Make it legal to hunt these guys down, and all their seized assets go to both the mercenary group and restitution.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 6 months ago
    Being in the IT industry, this is our #1 problem right now.

    And yes, I would love to see a team of SEAL snipers put and end to these people. They destroy lives, they destroy businesses. They hide in the Ukraine and in Russia and other lawless places.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
      "They hide in the Ukraine and in Russia and other lawless places. " Look at the article I just posted, showing the connections with Russia's money funnel bank and the Podesta Brothers lobby firm. Since they are behind HillaryBeast, the lines all tie together to show they are all in concert on this mess. Our own political system is allowing this to happen. More reason to toss all of them out and start over.
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  • Posted by term2 8 years, 6 months ago
    This is very scary. We are so dependent on the computers for almost everything. I am going to start backing up on removable media right away.

    Government cant be trusted to fix this. We have to do it ourselves.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
      Get a USB hard drive enclsure and a drive big enough to image your own. Set it to incremental backup (Win can do that, but there are better options), and make sure you disconnect the cable. Also, depending on your connection a thing like Carbonite, on many of the reputable companies can also be cost effective. Also, you can have a drive hooked up and move all your data files, pictures etc to it, and use it ongoing, and then just have the OS and programs on the C drive. That way, you fire it up, check it out, then hook up your other drive, do your thing and shutdown. As long as you disconnect the cable, even if you fire up and have this issue, it only means you have to reformat and reinstall your OS.
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