Ransomware
Revision as of 23:11, 30 May 2010 by Bob Zenith (talk | contribs) (Created page with 'Ransomware is a category of Malware that is seen when a Trojan Horse takes over a computer and encrypts the victim's hard drive, charging money to decrypt it, hence the "…')
Ransomware is a category of Malware that is seen when a Trojan Horse takes over a computer and encrypts the victim's hard drive, charging money to decrypt it, hence the "ransom".
First known case
In 1989 the AIDS Trojan Horse was written, which claimed to offer information about AIDS and HIV. When victims ran the program, the Trojan would encrypt their hard disk and display a message demanding money in exchange for a password that could be used to decrypt the hard disk and recover their files. If the users did not send any payment, the drive would remain encrypted indefinitely, and the victim would not be able to access any of their files and/or programs.
