Blackmail via Encryption
A friend has just contacted me to ask for help about a nasty blackmail trick that they've been subjected to, very similar to this:
http://www.healthitlawblog.com/tags/medicaldata-blackmail/
Upon opening a "fax" attachment containing a PDF (that unfortunately looked very similar to legitimate emails received during the course of business, so that it can't easily be ignored), his entire hard drive ( or at least all folders navigated into ) are being encrypted with "RSA-2048" encryption, and text notices installed in every folder that basically inform him that his data is being held hostage until certain URLs are visited (and possibly funds deposited) to release the data.
It's a long shot I know, but:
* anyone else dealt with this before?
* is there any recourse (could it be a confidence trick)
* should we bother to go to the "authorities"?
* should I investigate the drives in my linux machine to see what I can see? (the attack was on windows)
Thanks!
A friend has just contacted me to ask for help about a nasty blackmail trick that they've been subjected to, very similar to this:
http://www.healthitlawblog.com/tags/medicaldata-blackmail/
Upon opening a "fax" attachment containing a PDF (that unfortunately looked very similar to legitimate emails received during the course of business, so that it can't easily be ignored), his entire hard drive ( or at least all folders navigated into ) are being encrypted with "RSA-2048" encryption, and text notices installed in every folder that basically inform him that his data is being held hostage until certain URLs are visited (and possibly funds deposited) to release the data.
It's a long shot I know, but:
* anyone else dealt with this before?
* is there any recourse (could it be a confidence trick)
* should we bother to go to the "authorities"?
* should I investigate the drives in my linux machine to see what I can see? (the attack was on windows)
Thanks!
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