Computer Issues

[kookycats]

Friday night a screen suddenly popped up on my computer that said it was locked by the Justice Dept. for "illegal activities". Message said to send $300 to some moneygram place or I was subject to arrest and jail sentence - for - among other things - child pornography. Never saw a scam like this before, but I got hold of my computer guy and now I'm back in business. He did the repair via remote -- last night he said I could use the computer again. Have not spoken to him yet this morning but from what I could see there were a couple of trojans he got rid of and a bunch of infected files. Don't know how I got this thing because I'm super careful, I never open attachments, even if I know the sender --- but I guess somehow these things slip by.

Anyway, good to be back and catch up. Missed you guys for a few days - I felt cut off from the world.

 

[catspaw66]

That's a new one.  Did your computer guy report the attack to Homeland Security? This sounds like the things that come from Nigeria.

 

[kookycats]

That's a new one.  Did your computer guy report the attack to Homeland Security? This sounds like the things that come from Nigeria.

Haven't spoken to the computer guy yet today, but when I originally told him what happened he said he knew about it and had seen it before. Don't know if he reported it but I'll ask him. I think it might be a foreign - Nigerian - scan. The one thing I noticed in the screen I got was that when they said $300 --- it read 300$ -- with the dollar sign at the end. Sounds like it might be a foreign interpretation of American dollars.

 

[Winchester]

Lana, what virus program do you have on your computer?

 

[kookycats]

Lana, what virus program do you have on your computer?

I have Malwarebytes. But just noticed that Gary (the computer guy) also added Monzilla Firefox and something called Super Antispyware.

 

[mrblanche]

Mozilla Firefox is a browser, like Internet Explorer.  It's what I use.

I've seen that virus before, and it can be tough to get rid of.  It may actually be easier to do remotely than in person. 

Now, I suspect he did it, but be sure you have the newest version of Java on your computer. 
 

 

[jazzythecat]

These scams are becoming more and more prominent as of late. They are known as ransomware and can infect your PC through any vulnerability such as through a Java 0day/exploit. If you use/d Internet Explorer, I highly recommend switching to another browser as Internet Explorer automatically runs Java whenever it's requested on a webpage. Some Java exploits are fairly easy to remove whereas others require a complete reinstall of Windows. The virus would have set up a remote connection on your PC, opening specific ports, these ports were then utilised to install ransomware onto your PC.

Have you noticed any strange activities after the virus was removed, e.g. mouse jumping, slower than usual internet speeds etc.?

 

[kookycats]

These scams are becoming more and more prominent as of late. They are known as ransomware and can infect your PC through any vulnerability such as through a Java 0day/exploit. If you use/d Internet Explorer, I highly recommend switching to another browser as Internet Explorer automatically runs Java whenever it's requested on a webpage. Some Java exploits are fairly easy to remove whereas others require a complete reinstall of Windows. The virus would have set up a remote connection on your PC, opening specific ports, these ports were then utilised to install ransomware onto your PC.

Have you noticed any strange activities after the virus was removed, e.g. mouse jumping, slower than usual internet speeds etc.?

Thank for your input and advice. No strange activities since virus was removed. But I do appreciate your suggesting I use a different browser. I guess that's why the computer guy put Firefox on -- but I also have Chrome. Should I start using one of these rather than IE?

 

[catspaw66]

Definitely, most viruses are targeted at IE.  Firefox is the one I use, with Chrome as a backup. 

 

[jcat]

Definitely, most viruses are targeted at IE.  Firefox is the one I use, with Chrome as a backup. 

I second that.