Ransomware demands victims to send their nude pics instead of Bitcoin

It is not clear how many people have been hit with nRansomware

Ransomware is probably the worst thing that could happen to your computer. It happens when hackers lock the victims’ computers and promises to give users control of their computer back after extorting some sort of payment.

While most of the cyber-criminals nowadays prefer cryptocurrency as a mode of payment, someone has taken it to a whole new level by adding a twisted way of payment — nudes.



On Thursday, researchers at MalwareHunterTeam discovered a ransomware software called nRansomware that demands victims to submit their naked photographs in order to get their files back.

The group, whose research is focused on ransomware, tweeted a screenshot of the message that's displayed when a victim’s system is compromised.

Not sure about this...
🤔
Sample: https://t.co/EOth6eUZOy@BleepinComputer @demonslay335
cc @x0rz @malwareunicorn pic.twitter.com/j5CAL2AH3Y

— MalwareHunterTeam (@malwrhunterteam) September 21, 2017

"Your computer has been locked. You can only unlock it with the special unlock code,” reads the message. The victim is also asked to create an email account on a specified website and then email hackers from that address. "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."



It is not clear how many people have been hit with this ransomware. While some people are sceptical about the threat considering it some kind of a prank, the malware does appear to be legitimate. Several antivirus engines, including public malware repositories like VirusTotal and Hybrid Analysis have classified the file nRansom.exe as malicious.

Further, the researchers said the malware also appears to play looped music in the background.

Though the case of hackers asking for nudes as extortion is something new, cyber-criminals have for long used malware to steal women’s private photos and access their webcams.

This article originally appeared on Motherboard.