Spam attack: UK launches cyber crime probe

LONDON: UK investigators are looking into a series of cyber crime incidents. Millions of British banking customers received a barrage of spam emails designed to freeze the customer’s computers and demand a ransom. Britain’s National Crime Agency which has only been established last month said that its National Cyber Crime Unit had become aware of a mass email spamming situation which was sent to bank customer’s from the address of banks and other financial institutions. The agency said it considered the attack a ‘significant risk’. The spam carries an attachment that injects a programme malware into the computer. Once triggered, a programme called ‘Cryptolocker’ that is described as ‘ransomware’ proceeds to encrypt the files on the user’s machine and local network holding them hostage for ransom.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2013.

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