Antivirus company warns of ransomware in Turkey

ISTANBUL / MOSCOW

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The number of ransomware incidents on computers in Turkey has increased by 27 percent in 2014 compared to 2013, a Russia-based antivirus company has warned.

In terms of the number of infected victims, Turkey sits in third place behind Russia and the U.S., according to statistics on one of the most wide-spread ransomware viruses, named Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Crypren, detected by Kaspersky Lab products.

Experts at Kaspersky Lab have also recorded an increase in the number of attacks by a new cryptomalware, and most victims of this type of ransomware are located in Turkey.

Ransomware programs have become a popular means of making easy money for cybercriminals. They block access to a computer’s file system, or encrypt data files stored on the computer. After successfully initiating a block, the virus then warns you that you must pay in order to recover your data, said the company.

This type of ransomware is spreading via a number of phishing campaigns, often impersonating emails from telecom companies, banks or mobile providers.

“The emails sent on behalf of these organizations include a link to a pdf invoice, which is not actually a pdf document, but rather an exe file with a PDF icon to trick users. When executed, the malware encrypts the victim’s files and then displays a message informing the victim the system is infected and all of the files are encrypted, asking for a ransom to be paid to retrieve the files. In this message, cybercriminals provide a contact email address so the user can get more details about how to pay the ransom,” said Kapersky Lab.