On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:48:51 -0500, emf <emfril@gmail.com> wrote,
quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :
U.S. warns on Java software as security concerns escalate
I just got hit by a virus, the first time ever. It was what the RCMP
call "scareware". It suddenly popped up, locked screen, claiming I
had broken some law and must wire them $100 to unlock my computer.
If I failed to do so within 24 hours they would erase my hard drives.
They would also erase them it detected any attempts to remove it.
I follow all the usual rules to avoid infection. I figure it must have
got via running an unsigned Java applet or some JavaScript code.
Any way I got rid of it by booting to safe mode and running the Ace
Utilities and had a look at code configured to run at startup. I
noticed a suspicious runcff.lnk from Microsoft, disabled it and all
seems to be ok.
The police were very ho hum, saying there were a rash of such attacks,
and they wanted to treat them like ordinary virus attacks. I guess
they figured nobody would be stupid enough to fall for the extortion.
Apparently some variants claim to have found kiddie porn or accuse of
random crimes.