How to React When Receiving an Extortion Email | Install Antivirus

They say they have a video of you watching pornographic content, threaten to send it to your friends, and ask you to pay a ransom in bitcoin? Do nothing! We explain how this scam works.

One fine day, or ultimately not that pleasant, you look at your emails, and then you find a message that begins like this:

“I know your password is **********. You don't know me, and you're probably wondering why you received this email, right? It turns out that I installed malware on an adult (porn) video website… ”

Or you receive this kind of message:

"I hacked your email address, and I infected your operating system using a virus ..."

Or :

“I am part of an international group of hackers. As you can guess, your account has been hacked ... "

There are all kinds of variations, but the message sent by this sender is to tell you that your computer was infected after your account was hacked, or the scammer installed malware on a pornographic video website that you have visited. It appears then that the hackers have obtained your contacts 'and social networks' email addresses, your instant message conversations, and your directory. So they would have full access to your device, and they would have hacked your webcam to record a video of you watching something.

Cybercriminals threaten you to send the video to all your friends and colleagues. According to them, the only way to put an end to it is to pay them a specific amount of crypto-currencies into an anonymous wallet.

Some crooks only give you a few days and say they can tell exactly when you opened the email, which supposedly contains a tracking pixel allowing them to monitor the status of the message. In some cases, and as a result of these efforts to convince you that there is indeed a compromising video, you are asked to reply to the message, after which the crooks say that they will send the video to some of your contacts.

They obviously say that if you pay, they will immediately erase your contacts' video and database.

Relax, Nobody Filmed You

In reality, this almighty "virus" and this shameful video does not exist. How can they know your password? It's very simple: the blackmailer has got his hands on one of the many databases of user accounts and passwords available on the darknet, which several online services have disclosed. Alas, it is not trivial to have this kind of leaks. In the United States alone, as many as 163 million user records were compromised in the first three quarters of 2017.

As for "knowing" that you have viewed adult content, they say so at random. The email you received was sent to thousands, if not millions of people, and the recipient's password, along with other personal information, was automatically added to the message from the database. data. Even if only a few people pay the ransom, this money will already be more than enough for the scammer.

A message asking you to pay a ransom, with the added bonus of a Trojan horse that encrypts

The crooks have recently discovered an even more effective method of convincing victims to pay. In early December, Proofpoint researchers detected a wave of extortion emails that offered victims the chance to personally verify that there was an embarrassing video of them, without involving family and friends. The recipients only had to follow the link sent by the message.

There is no video; instead, users have to download a ZIP archive which, when unzipped and executed, completely infects the system.

Don't worry, cybercriminals aren't going to film you when you watch pornographic videos. However, they encrypt your files with GandCrab malware and demand a higher ransom, but this time so that you can get your data back.

How to Protect Yourself

We recommend that you be careful and follow these few simple steps so as not to fall into the trap of crooks using ransomware:

• Do not panic.
• Don't pay the ransom.
• Do not reply to extortion emails otherwise, you will only validate your email address and attract them even more.
• Do not follow the links in these messages. At best, you'll be bombarded with shady ads, but a virus can also infect your device, and this time it will be real.

What to React;

• Write the password sent in the email, and change it immediately on all sites where you use it. Then while you're at it, choose a stronger password.
• Use a reliable password manager to keep your passwords strong and hard to remember.
• Install a trusted antivirus to protect your system from malware, and no longer worry about your webcam being hacked.