Ransomware Demands

SenseiSteve

HD Moderator
Staff member
I'm just curious how many members and guests here get ransomware demands on websites that were never hacked? Do people really fall for that? I just got one demanding $2000 in bitcoins.
 
I may have gotten one last year. I just ignored it. Never would I pay anyone I don't know, over the Internet.

But I do understand why some people get scared enough to pay.
 
We had a client many years ago that their entire server was compromised and had ransomware. They wanted $1000 to release it. The client had a full backup of the server 12 hours old, so they chose to restore it, but they never patched anything. Sure enough, it got locked again.

Against everyone's advice, they decided that it would be easier to just pay the $1000 and no deal with tracking down the exploit :) So they paid, and about week later, it was locked up again asking for another $1000.

There's a lot of trust paid in a hostage situation that they won't re-do the event again, and since you're dealing with unscrupulous characters to begin with, I dont' know why people think they would suddenly play fair.
 
I think the OP was referring to emails that their site will be hack in the future if they don't pay not actual compromised sites or servers.

I got a bunch of emails last week claiming that they hacked my personal computer and caught me on my web cam doing stuff or found a bunch of files that I wouldn't want people to see.

But either way don't pay because you will have to continue to pay.
 
Oh, @LittleCreek, you're right. I somehow skimmed past the "on websites that were never hacked". I don't know how I missed that!

I guess, just like how SPAM doesn't work for most people, there's still a good chunk of times that it does work, so it's still profitable to do :)
 
Got another ransomware email last week for the same domain. I guess they figured since it didn't work the first time around, I'd fall for it the second time around. Let their 5 day grace period expire both times. Wonder if they'll try a third time? Oh, and they didn't say it would be hacked at a future date. They said it was already hacked. NOT.
 
I think the OP was referring to emails that their site will be hack in the future if they don't pay not actual compromised sites or servers.

I got a bunch of emails last week claiming that they hacked my personal computer and caught me on my web cam doing stuff or found a bunch of files that I wouldn't want people to see.

But either way don't pay because you will have to continue to pay.

I get these all the time, i just laugh as they usually say ' i have control of your webcam and can see everything'

They must be magicians if they can take control and see things from a webcam i dont have
 
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