Breaking Bad TV Series Exploited as Ransomware

It's not just an addictive cable television series, it's also now a scam. The popular series Breaking Bad has been exploited as new ransomware and will hold your files hostage.

The malware is being referred to as PolloCrypt and if it infects your computer, it'll peruse your personal files and encrypt them with a key that only the scammers posses. They claim they will release them once a sum of money is paid to them via Bitcoin. They will even decrypt one file for you just to prove that they can do it and go a bit further to explain that what they are doing is a business and therefore they have no motivation not to give the files back after payment.

It can be frustrating and even cause great anxiety to have someone steal your private information, but if this happens, never pay the ransom. It only encourages these and other scammers to continue doing this.

It is unclear how PolloCrypt is spreading or what needs to happen for it to be executed. However, it's likely that it arrives in a spam phishing email message. So don't click on links or open attachments that you are not 100% certain are safe. Even if it looks like someone you know sent it, there is still a chance they didn't. Email is very easy to fake, which is why cyber criminals use it to spread malware such as this.

Also, ensure all important information is backed up to another location such as cloud storage or an external hard drive. Most internet providers have a cloud storage option and many other companies are offering this service now, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple. External storage devices are very inexpensive and worth the investment. This way, should anything happen to those ever important photographs, there is another copy stored somewhere other than your computer.

So far, this malware infects Windows PCs. However, since a lot is yet to be discovered make sure all devices that connect to the Internet are updated with the latest anti-malware files.