Watch out for Ransomware

March 9, 2017

Ransomware is the new malware and is spreading like wildfire.  Over the last 12 months cases have doubled and so has the ransom. According to Action Fraud, 4,000 Brits have had their computers infected with ransomware this year and paid out over £4.5m to the cyber criminals.

What is Ransomware

This is a type of malware that encrypts all of your files, including photos, and then wants you to pay a fee for them to be unlocked.

The most common way users are duped is via email.

As you can see below, there are tail-tail signs you need to look out for.

This email says it’s from Apple but let’s take a look

Firstly, the email address (1) has been designed to look like it’s come from Apple but take a close look at the actual address and you can see it’s fake.

When hovering the mouse over the link (2) you can see it doesn’t point to where is should (3).

In this example, the link www.apple.com/support/update actually points to http://www.depositosaplazo.es/prett/s.html which then forwards onto http://davidwhitleyartist.info/jsa/Itunes/apple/ which is a convincing copy of the Apple website.

Needless to say, if you were to logon they would have access to your account and probably many others because people do insist on using the same username and password for all their accounts!