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Attacks where criminals hold kidnapped data for ransom are becoming more sophisticated. It’s only a matter of time before hackers have the upper hand.
In a typical ransomware attack, the criminal reaches into a compromised computer -victimized earlier by a worm or Trojan- and grabs a slew of files. He then encrypts those files, making them impossible for the owner to access them. Later, the attacker sends the victim an e-mail ransom demand for the encryption key that unlocks the frozen files.
Although "ransomware" remains relatively rare, Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs stressed in a recently-published report that the threat is quickly increasing. June 2006’s "Gpcode.ag," for instance, was downloaded to thousands of Russian computers from an infected site, then locked up files using a 660-bit key. It would normally take a standard PC approximately 30 years of computing time to break a key that long.
Security companies urge IT managers to back up their data to protect from this new risk, which is still rare but increasing steadily.
Source:
http://www.informationweek.com/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=191101205&subSection=Spam/Spyware