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Topic: 2013-11-15 Daily Telegraph: Tens of millions targeted by email 'ransom’ virus (Read 925 times)

sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 250
If I put my tinfoil hat on, I can't eliminate the possibility that it's some taxpayer funded organizations' plot to : 1. raise as many bitcoins for themselves as possible; 2. guide public opinion to support more regulations and blacklisting for Bitcoin.
Well, anyone would want free bitcoins not just the government, so Im not quite understanding that point.

Point being that Gov. is trying to make BTC associated with crime.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
If I put my tinfoil hat on, I can't eliminate the possibility that it's some taxpayer funded organizations' plot to : 1. raise as many bitcoins for themselves as possible; 2. guide public opinion to support more regulations and blacklisting for Bitcoin.
Well, anyone would want free bitcoins not just the government, so Im not quite understanding that point.

It's funny how they consider the distributed botnet to be not prosecutable, while targetting the also distributed Bitcoin network.
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Inb4 Norton starts marking Bitcoin QT as malicious software.
sr. member
Activity: 280
Merit: 250
If I put my tinfoil hat on, I can't eliminate the possibility that it's some taxpayer funded organizations' plot to : 1. raise as many bitcoins for themselves as possible; 2. guide public opinion to support more regulations and blacklisting for Bitcoin.
Well, anyone would want free bitcoins not just the government, so Im not quite understanding that point.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
And this how you debunk media double-speak, we can be absolutely certain that there is nowhere near tens of millions of victims of this virus, not even a fraction.
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
I work in IT and have had a few clients get cryptolocker on various computers.  We do backups of course, so they had no need to pay the ransom.

I kinda secretly wished they'd had gone for the ransom anyways so I could tell them about bitcoin Sad
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
If I put my tinfoil hat on, I can't eliminate the possibility that it's some taxpayer funded organizations' plot to : 1. raise as many bitcoins for themselves as possible; 2. guide public opinion to support more regulations and blacklisting for Bitcoin.
sr. member
Activity: 280
Merit: 250
They forgot about the part where the virus also accepts GBP/USD/EUR payable with a moneypak or whatever...
Yeah thats strange. Bitcoins are much harder to buy than moneypaks, Im sure that many more of the ransoms are paid with them instead of Bitcoin.
legendary
Activity: 1078
Merit: 1002
100 satoshis -> ISO code
They forgot about the part where the virus also accepts GBP/USD/EUR payable with a moneypak or whatever...

I had never heard of moneypak until this happened, and lived in the EU for many years. Maybe Bitcoin is more famous than moneypak now.
legendary
Activity: 1358
Merit: 1002
They forgot about the part where the virus also accepts GBP/USD/EUR payable with a moneypak or whatever...
legendary
Activity: 1078
Merit: 1002
100 satoshis -> ISO code
Tens of millions targeted by email 'ransom’ virus

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10453602/Tens-of-millions-targeted-by-email-ransom-virus.html

CL hitting the main news!

I hope Kaspersky, Norton, F-secure et. al. get their act in gear fast.
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