In an entirely predictable development, victims of a new type of ransomware attack are being extorted for 10 nude pictures in order to unlock their computers.
There have been several prominent ransomware outbreaks already this year. Perhaps the most high-profile attack was the WannaCry bug which hit more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries around the world.
Earlier this week, MalwareHunterTeam, experts in the malicious ransom software, published details of a virus, called nRansomware, which demands nude pictures which it claims it will sell on the Dark Web, where IP addresses are anonymized.
Unlike WannaCry, this virus doesn’t encrypt infected files, instead locking the user’s screen. The researchers posted screenshots of what users see when this happens.
“Your computer has been locked. You can only unlock it with the special unlock code,” the message reads. “After we reply, you must send at least 10 nude pictures of you. After that we will have to verify that the nudes belong to you.”
The message is displayed on top of a tiled picture of children’s cartoon character Thomas The Tank engine, emblazoned with the words “F*ck you!!!”
It also features an MP3 file called “your-mom-gay,” which plays the theme music from HBO’s ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’.
Unlikely to be a serious threat to computer users, MalwareHunterTeam told Motherboard they have “no information about anyone getting infected with this.”
