Ransom 'Email Spam' Hits U.K Businesses

Federal cybercrime investigators are now working to identify and stop the people behind the ransom "email spam" targeting small and medium businesses in the U.K.

The British National Crime Agency has warned tens of millions of Internet users that are now at risk of the malware email that disguises itself as a seemingly-legitimate email from financial institutions. Once the attachment which seems to be a voicemail, fax, or invoice details is opened, the malware called "Cryptolocker" is immediately activated and encrypts the files of the computer affected. It also comes with a timer with a ransom message offering to decrypt the files for two Bitcoins equivalent to £536 or approximately $865. However, those who have paid the ransom were unable to decrypt their files.

Lee Miles, deputy head of the National Cyber Crime Unit, told BBC: "The NCA are actively pursuing organised crime groups committing this type of crime. We are working in co-operation with industry and international partners to identify and bring to justice those responsible and reduce the risk to the public."

The National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), which handles serious organized cyber crimes, is now pursuing to identify the email source though they admitted that there is no guarantee that the payments will still be returned to the victims. For now, they have warned Internet users to avoid opening suspicious attachments, update their antivirus software, and repeatedly backup their files. The agency had described the incident a "significant risk."

According to Reuters, the NCCU do not encourage users to pay the ransom and advised them to report the incident to actionfraud.police.uk. The ransom "email spam" was detected during the cybersecurity exercise of the British Treasury and the Bank of England.