You’re infected—if you want to see your data again, pay us $300 in Bitcoins

Re:You’re infected—if you want to see your data again, pay u... by greglindahl on Thursday October 17, 2013 @05:35PM (#6568291)

Lower risk, but it probably reduces income: how many people can figure out how to make a bitcoin payment? How long does it take to make a bitcoin payment? The harder it is, the more likely the target is to give up and do without.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:You’re infected—if you want to see your data again, pay u... by bri3d on Thursday October 17, 2013 @06:15PM (#6568524)

I think their Bitcoin payment method is actually to facilitate international payments (funny in a dark way) - they also take the popular shady prepaid-debit/cash-wire service GreenDot Moneypak and I'd imagine most US victims paid up that way.

There are a couple of anecdotes on Reddit about Canadians and other non-US residents scrambling to find a physical Bitcoin storefront or Craigslist contact to pay the ransom for them since Moneypak wasn't available in their area.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:You’re infected—if you want to see your data again, pay u... by smtddr on Thursday October 17, 2013 @06:14PM (#6568519)

I've never done it before myself, but this looks simple enough; like a paypal donation:

http://shop.wikileaks.org/donate

Now, how the malware-writer goes about verifying payment is beyond my understanding...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:You’re infected—if you want to see your data again, pay u... by abstractConcept on Thursday October 17, 2013 @08:09PM (#6569030)

I would think their C&C server sets up a random Bitcoin wallet, and waits for a deposit, then allows the private key to be retrieved the next time CryptoLocker phones home.

[ Parent | on HN ]