EXTORTION, one of the oldest crimes in the book, has taken on an alarming technological twist. The FBI is warning that computer-savvy criminals have designed a virus that encrypts documents stored on a PC until the owner pays a ransom to unlock them. While the virus has so far only used weak encryption that is easily overcome, the fear is that it could be made tougher and start demanding large sums of money.
“The virus searches a victim’s hard drive and encrypts any text-based documents it finds”
The virus searches a victim’s hard drive and encrypts any text-based documents it…
