Is your conscience bothering you?

If the answer is yes you might shelling out a lot of money. In a recent FBI article there is new virus in town and is praying in the guiltily conscience of many Americans who use the internet. According this article the virus is called Reveton. This virus is being described as a “drive-by” malware as it present itself as soon as the user visits and infected site. The virus is going to display a message that basically locks up the screen and would not let the user exit.

The malware will display a message letting the user know that their computer was identified by the FBI or the Department of Justice Computer Crime or Intellectual Property Section as having been associated with child pornography or other online illegal activities. The message goes on to say that unless they pay a fine they will be prosecuted. Many American’s have paid the so called fine as requested using MoneyPak order.

In another article found in privacy-pc the author David B speaks of an in depth analysis written by Brian Kerbs a well-known security researcher wrote. David states that Mr. Kerbs believes that the distribution of the Reveton Virus is quite likely to be associated with another infection known as the Citadel which in turn is derivative of the notorious password-stealing ZeuS Trojan.

After reading these articles two questions came to mind; first who is vulnerable? and second what site they are visiting? Sports, entertainment, adult, religious, bookstores, etc…? It did not take long to find the answer, everyone is vulnerable and it can be anywhere. One of the examples I found was in Webroot community blog where someone posted that their computer becomes infected after visiting their daughter dance studio website.

There a few guidelines issued by the IC3, the IC3was established as a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to serve as a means to receive Internet related criminal complaints and to further research, develop, and refer the criminal complaints to federal, state, local, or international law enforcement and/or regulatory agencies for any investigation they deem to be appropriate, according to their website The guidelines are as follow:

• Do not provide any personal information.
• Contact a computer professional to remove Reveton and Citadel from your computer. .
• Be aware that even if you are able to unfreeze your computer on your own, the malware may still operate in the background. Certain types of malware have been known to capture personal information such as user names, passwords, and credit card numbers through embedded keystroke logging programs. .
• File a complaint and look for updates about the Reveton virus on the IC3 website. .