{"id":55419,"date":"2016-12-01T00:17:52","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T00:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=55419"},"modified":"2016-12-01T00:17:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T00:17:52","slug":"microsoft-support-scam-ties-ransomware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-support-scam-ties-ransomware\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Support Scam Ties in Ransomware to Boost Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reverse engineer and analyst, Jakub Kroustek, recently discovered<\/a> a new Microsoft scam that ties in a twist of ransomware. Vindows Locker is a support scam that locks your files, like ransomware, until a payment of $349.99 is received.<\/p>\n

Along with the payment demand, a phone number is provided. If users call the phone number, they will be connected with a \u201csupport member\u201d claiming to be from Microsoft. But, of course they are not affiliated with Microsoft. The intent of the phone call is to gather personal information from the PC user, as well as financial information.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for those infected, these cyber criminals were sloppy. Meaning, decryption keys are available for all locked files. The decryption keys can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reverse engineer and analyst, Jakub Kroustek, recently discovered a new Microsoft scam that ties in a twist of ransomware. Vindows Locker is a support scam that locks your files, like ransomware, until a payment of $349.99 is received. Along with the payment demand, a phone number is provided. If users call the phone number, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":55421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4949,5000],"tags":[125,4363],"class_list":["post-55419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ransomware","category-ransomwarewar","tag-microsoft","tag-ransomware"],"yoast_head":"\nMicrosoft Support Scam Ties in Ransomware to Boost Profits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Authors of a Microsoft support scam have now including ransomware in their arsenal. 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