It’s amazing that no one thought of this before: place a computer virus on porn sites, use it to obtain the names of people downloading content from the sites, and threaten to expose them unless a payment is made to the blackmailer. Genius, in fact… As reported by the BBC:
A new type of malware infects PCs using file-share sites and publishes the user’s net history on a public website before demanding a fee for its removal.
The Japanese trojan virus installs itself on computers using a popular file-share service called Winni, used by up to 200m people. It targets those downloading illegal copies of games in the Hentai genre, an explicit form of anime.
Website Yomiuri claims that 5500 people have so far admitted to being infected. The virus, known as Kenzero, is being monitored by web security firm Trend Micro in Japan.
Masquerading as a game installation screen, it requests the PC owner’s personal details.
It then takes screengrabs of the user’s web history and publishes it online in their name, before sending an e-mail or pop-up screen demanding a credit card payment of 1500 yen (£10) to “settle your violation of copyright law” and remove the webpage…
[continues at the BBC]
