Welcome to bullyware: Malware gets more aggressive in money hunt

[JMH]

Cybercriminals are using malware to go beyond merely swiping passwords and actually "bullying infected users into paying," according to a Fortinet quarterly report on emerging threats.
fortiguard

Fortinet's fourth quarter report walks through the methods cybercriminals are using to extract dough from victims. The gist: Fortinet is arguing that money making malware will take threats to a new level in 2013.

To wit:

Simda.B poses as a Flash update, gets full installation rights and then swipes your passwords. Then email and social networking accounts spread spam, host malware and take money from online payment accounts.
FakeAlert.D is fake antivirus malware that harasses you into paying for protection, which also has to be a fraud.
Ransom.BE78 holds your personal data hostage. This ransomware installs itself and demand payment to be removed.
Zbot.ANQ is an offshoot of the Zeus virus. It takes your online bank login attempts, prods you to install mobile malware on your smartphone and then hijacks SMS messages from banks and transfers funds.

Welcome to bullyware: Malware gets more aggressive in money hunt | ZDNet

 

[Trouble]

Thanks Jan.
Just had a recent go with the latest variant of the fake FBI ransomware on a friend's Windows 7 laptop.
It was a bit of a pain because of the accompanying screen locker but we managed to get around it and resolved the issue. I strongly recommended that he follow up with changing all of his online passwords, especially those that apply to online banking and credit cards and inform his card providers and monitor his accounts for a while.
He, of course, blamed everything on his brother's use of the computer while he was not present. Hopefully he's a little wiser now.

P.S. Thankfully it wasn't this version Data encryption adds twist to ransomware - CSO Online - Security and Risk