Woman Targeted By Web Hackers

A woman from Greater Manchester has become a victim of an Internet scam in
which hackers hijack computer files and blackmail owners to get them back.

Helen Barrow, a 40-year-old nurse from Rochdale, is believed to be one of the
first victims of the con in the UK. Criminals encrypt files with complex
passwords, leaving a ransom note telling victims not to contact police. Ms
Barrow's note said that she would have to buy drugs from an online pharmacy to
find out the password.

The new phenomenon, known as Ransomware, means victims cannot access any of
the files stored in their My Documents folder. Ms Barrow, from Littleborough,
discovered her computer files had vanished and replaced by one 30-digit
password-protected folder.

She also found a new file named 'instructions on how to get your files
back'.

Ms Barrow contacted police and an IT expert who managed to recover some of
her files, which included coursework for her nursing degree. The senior sister
said: “When I realized what had happened, I just felt sick to the core. “I
was in shock. It was a horrible feeling and I thought I was going to lose all of
my work. I had lots of family photographs and personal letters on the computer
and to think that other people could have been looking at them was awful,” she
said.

A message had appeared on her
computer screen telling her she had contracted an unnamed virus.

It is thought the message was part of the scam and she inadvertently
downloaded it.

The virus is known as Archiveus and victims are told to buy pharmaceutical
drugs from an internet chemist thought to be based in Russia.

BBC