As you may have seen in the news recently, a new wave of Crypto Locker virus is currently spreading over the internet and wreaking havoc on business computers. Targeting Australian businesses, this virus comes in via email pretending to be from reputable sources. Because of their targeted nature, these email look legitimate and entice users to run the virus. As with other CryptoLocker variants, when run this version quickly encrypts your files and demands a ransom to unlock them.

Current scams circulating at the moment include:

The Australian Federal Police: Negligent driving email

Currently an email is circulating which is said to be from the AFP. The email, which features the AFP logo as well as the Commonwealth of Australia 2015 copyright logo, is asking people to pay a fine of $150 for negligent driving. If you happen to receive this email delete it immediately.

Canberra Police: Traffic infringement email

Another harmful email which has been circulating this week is a newer version of the AFP scam, asking drivers in Canberra to pay $161.64 for negligent driving.

This traffic violation email has a number of grammatical errors and typos, and is sent from afp-traffic@sda-courier24.net.  Like the first scam, this email also contains harmful links and attachments which could be extremely harmful to your computer.

Breaking Bad Ransomeware

Just this week a new computer virus has begun spreading which references the TV show Breaking Bad.

The malware, which  encrypts images, videos and other documents before demanding up to $1,000 for files to be decrypted, references the fictitious Los Pollos Hermanos Chicken chain which features in Breaking bad.

The malicious software comes from a zipped archive titled “PENALTY.VBS” which downloads the ransomware and also opens a legitimate PDF file to trick people into thinking the initial archive was OK.

Files targeted by the software include commonly used word documents, images, spreadsheets, songs and more.

If you are ever unsure of the legitimacy of an email or if you think your computer may have a virus, call us today on 1300 903 405.

Hayden McMaster