A new virus is making the rounds,
and this one employs a startling new tactic for making a mess out of
the lives of those unfortunate enough to get infected.
Known as Kenzero, the infection originated in Japan and, in its initial
attack phase, is targeting users of a file-sharing service called
Winni, which claims about 200 million users.
When Winni customers use the site to download illegal copies of games in
the adult, animated "hentai" genre, their PCs are becoming infected
with the Kenzero virus, which makes a copy of their Web-browsing history
and posts it online, where it is visible to the public. The Kenzero
virus appears on Winni as a standard game installer, deceiving its
victims.
Suffice it to say that anyone who's downloading illegal
hentai games — which feature extremely graphic (and
conceivably illegal in the U.S., see here) sex acts — probably does
not want his browsing history published to the world.
After
infection and the publication of the Web history, the victim is then
held for ransom, and a pop-up note or email demands a relatively small
financial payment (about $16) from the user in order to "settle your
violation of copyright law." The BBC reports that a similar extortion
attack targets European users, demanding much higher fees of $400, which
is termed a "pretrial settlement."
It's a very brazen way to
attack users, pretending to be a law enforcement agency while also engaging
in explicitly illegal extortion activities — but in a world where Web
users are hopefully becoming a little more sophisticated and aware of
garden-variety malware attacks, I suppose crooks have to resort to
increasingly extreme measures in order to extract money from their
victims.
Nonetheless, remember that this attack is fundamentally
no different from others. Antimalware and antivirus software should
clear it up, as architecturally it is no more advanced than any other
attack.
In no case should you actually pay an extortionist
looking for a handout: There's little assurance they will actually
follow through on what they say they'll do, and giving credit card or bank account information
to one of these crooks invariably opens you up for much more serious
financial losses.
As for any Web histories published to the
Internet, well, you might just have to live with it. Call it a lesson
learned.
— Christopher Null
is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.