It appears that the draw of the almighty dollar has pulled CNET to the dark side. CNET is a popular technology news site with a download portal called Download.com where many users go to download software that are free, shareware and open source. The site built a reputation a while back as a dependable location for hosting software that was devoid of malicious content – trojan horses, adware, virus etc.
malware
“Windows license locked”: Ransomware Targets Windows
“Windows license locked!”
“This copy of Windows is locked. You may be a victim of fraud or there may be an internal system error” – malware message
Mikko Hyppönen of F-Secure has warned of a new variant of what he calls “Ransomware” or ransom trojans. These are attacks by malware that takes a computer hostage and then tries to extort a payment in return for returning control of the computer or its files to the owner. Sometimes, the malware will encrypt files (using AES – Advanced Encryption Standard, for example) until some “ransom” is paid by buying a key to unlock the hostage computer.