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Zippo Trojan Choose Extortion For $300
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-03-16
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
A new virus called the Zippo Trojan is floating about the net and is demanding $300 to unencrypt data it claims to have stolen and encrypted. The Trojan goes through a user's files and moves them into a password protected zip file.
The files it might grab include Word documents, databases and spreadsheets. Once it gets them, it zips them and creates a second file telling the user about paying the $300 to an E-Gold account to recover the data.
The kids across the pond at Sophos decided they didn't particularly like the new Trojan and so decided to release the password for the program. At the very least, the virus folks will need to come up with a new password and redistribute the malware.
"The Zippo Trojan horse is bold as brass, scooping up your valuable data and locking it away until you agree to pay the ransom to the criminals who have "kidnapped" your files. Companies who have made regular backups may be able to recover easily, but less diligent businesses may be in a quandary about whether to cough up the cash," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.
"In the old days malware was typically written by teenagers who wanted to show off to their mates. Now most of the viruses and Trojan horses we see are being written with the intention of making money from innocent internet users. The attacks are becoming more organized and more malicious, and every computer needs to be properly defended.
"Experts at Sophos have disassembled the Zippo Trojan and determined that the password it uses to encrypt data is C:Program FilesMicrosoft Visual StudioVC98," continued Cluley. "So there should be no need for anyone unfortunate enough to have suffered from this ransomware attack to have to pay the reward to the criminals behind it. It looks like this password was deliberately chosen by the Trojan's author in an attempt to fool analysts into thinking it was a directory path instead."
In any event, users should still keep their operating systems and security software updated. Remember to check on both Windows and Mac patches as both had updates on Tuesday.
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Tag: Zippo Virus
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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