INTERNET pirates are hijacking home computers through the web and demanding payment to return valuable files.
Police are investigating the emerging threat after a Rochdale nurse had her personal computer "webjacked" by the online criminals.
Helen Barrow logged on to her PC to find that all her files - including family photos and vital work for her nursing degree - had been deleted and transferred into a folder protected by a 30-digit password.
She also found a new file, called "INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO GET YOUR FILES BACK".
This said she would be emailed the password if she paid for some pharmaceutical drugs from a website.
Computer experts say the criminals have developed a new type of virus, nicknamed "ransomware", which effectively blackmails its victims.
( Click to learn how to tackle the invaders...)
Warning
Helen, a 40-year-old mother of two, is believed to be one of the first victims of this form of internet crime in Britain after it first surfaced in the US earlier this year.
Police are warning all computer users to be aware of the threat.
It is thought the virus managed to infect Helen's computer after she clicked on a pop-up advert offering to clean bugs from her PC.
Helen, from Littleborough, a senior sister at Rochdale Infirmary, is in her second year of a part-time nursing degree and had done much of her course work on the computer.
She only discovered her PC had been infected by the virus when she turned it on to find the files had been hijacked.
"All my nursing degree work had gone, as had all my personal letters about everything from my mortgage to my insurance and pictures of the family," she said.
"The instructions told me I had to buy some of their pharmaceuticals and then I would be e-mailed the password.
Details
"I knew I couldn't give them my bank details so I took the e-mail to the police and handed my computer over to a local expert.
"The police said it would be impossible to trace the people behind the website."
The computer virus which infected Helen's computer - called Arhiveus - warns people not to contact the police or search for a password.
It even suggests that after its victims have bought drugs from them, they could sell them on to recoup the cash.
IT expert Andy Sharples, from Littleborough-based IT Doctor, said heéd never seen anything like it. éIf I havenét seen something before then the chances are Iéll find plenty about it on the internet,é he said. éWith this virus there was nothing on the internet and I ended up having to get the virus off the computer and send it a US computer security company to get the code cracked.
éThey hadnét seen anything like it before, either, but since they have become aware of it a lot of warnings have appeared. It was possible to get most of the work back.é
A GMP spokesman said: éOur High Tech Crime Unit is aware of this new type of crime and incidents of this kind could increase in future.é
Blackmail
Internet criminals have used blackmail before by attacking particular websites and then demanding payment to stop the attacks. But the new virus targets home users rather than businesses and internet firms.
Harnesh Patel, of Cheshire-based internet security form SurfControl, said: éWe cannot stress enough the need for well-structured and tight internet controls.
éItés no good locking all the doors and leaving the windows open.
éYou need to ensure that you have 360-degree internet protection to prevent those with malicious intent from accessing your precious data.
éIn this case, extorting money using Ransomware is an alarming but very real danger which must be avoided.é
HAVE you been the target of extorting net pirates? Have your say.
Learn more about online scams from Consumer Direct.
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
mike, city centre Manchester (31/05/2006 at 09:17)
Ms D, Manchester (31/05/2006 at 09:27)
P. Dorff, Manchester (31/05/2006 at 09:59)
NEVER EVER CLICK ON POP UP ADVERTS NO MATTER *WHAT* THEY OFFER.
Change browser and block those annoying popup ads. (this response was submitted using firefox)
NEVER take for granted that ANY popup advert is GENUINE.
Sites with a lot of popups are generally bad sites to visit. NEVER click on banner adverts either.
Get ZONEALARM. Get AVG. Get FIREFOX. Get THUNDERBIRD.
GET COMPUTER TRAINING!!!
Its only peoples stupidity, ignorance and lack of training that makes these things headline news.
I've no sypmathy for the nurse as she lacks the sort of company of friends who are better knowledged to tell her different.
Computers should be like cars - you ought not to have one until you know how to handle it and how to guide it and what to do in an emergency and yes, I would probably thank someone if we all needed some sort of piece of paper/certificate for knowledge before walking into a computer store and buying a computer and allowing someone to go on the internet.
If she meant to just CLOSE the popup... I'd have left the site already - I can't stand popups (even the manchesteronline site is blocked hehe!)
The best quick solution to closing a popup is to right click and close it on the task-bar.
If it can't be closed like that, DO NOT TRY TO CLOSE IT BY ANY OTHER MEANS. TERMINATE USE OF THAT BROWSER INSTEAD AND VISIT ELSEWHERE.
Learn about good trusted sites instead - there's lots of them out there. download.com,computeractive.co.uk are all good and try to read up as much information on what is out there before committing to clicking on stuff that can do this sort of thing!
Right, thats two long posts in two days about computers and thats enough! TRAIN PEOPLE, TRAIN! LEARN!!!
yes, I am getting slightly annoyed at this sort of thing because the training is out there and it doesn't take much for you to go out there and do something to help yourselves. Computer courses are readily available in your area and only take up one or two hours of your time each week. It's a worthy thing to do and it's surprising all the stuff you can learn and then advance on learning. One or two hours... thats all. Don't tell me you havent got time, thats an excuse. MAKE the time! I've done it. I passed the ECDL with flying colours.
I'm helping others with their computers - and it's good the friends I've made along the way because of what I have learnt.
Now, go follow in my lead!!!
Chris, Manchester (31/05/2006 at 12:36)
Andy, Wythenshawe (31/05/2006 at 12:59)
Buying security software and keeping it up to date should be your number 1 priority. If you're not net savy, keep off it.
Jane, Salford (31/05/2006 at 13:18)
Stephen Wesley, Manchester (31/05/2006 at 13:42)
David C, City Centre (31/05/2006 at 13:53)
Vickid, London (31/05/2006 at 14:15)
Bob, North West (31/05/2006 at 14:20)
Bill Gates, Manchester (31/05/2006 at 18:27)
It still never fails to amaze me that people fall for these bank account enquiry/e-bay account anquiry/african oil money scams.
Phil, Spain (31/05/2006 at 21:55)
Steve, Australia (31/05/2006 at 23:03)
John, Canada (01/06/2006 at 01:11)
I have a Mac, so I click on every pop-up link just for laughs.
Oh yeah, I'm smug.
Adam W, Commonwealth (01/06/2006 at 05:12)
Dave, Manchester (01/06/2006 at 08:37)
sprouty, Manchester (01/06/2006 at 09:29)
spike, UK (01/06/2006 at 12:23)
Nat, Cambridge (01/06/2006 at 12:23)
Andy, Wythenshawe (01/06/2006 at 13:53)
You just have to know what you're doing irrespective of what o/s you are using.
Joe, Swindon (01/06/2006 at 14:28)
Peter, Manchester (01/06/2006 at 14:56)
There still haven't been any widespread viruses for UNIX/Linux/Mac OSX platforms; due to the fact that a virus can only damage the system as much as the user who executes it, and it is good practice not to run as root in a UNIX environment I doubt there will be.
P.Dorff. ECDL. lol.
Graham W, Walton on Thames (01/06/2006 at 23:03)
Mike, The Toon (02/06/2006 at 09:04)
And to those saying don't use Windows, you DO realise that more Linux/Unix boxes are hacked every year than Windows ones yes? Check the latset attack statistics before you comment.
flameme, UK (02/06/2006 at 10:36)