Media Coverage

"There are no major differences between a FLocker variant that can infect a mobile device and one that affects smart TVs," Trend Micro researcher Echo Duan wrote in a blog post.

"If the Twitter password is reused elsewhere, Twitter two-factor authentication isn't going to help you on those other accounts," Trend Micro Global Threat Communications Manager Christopher Budd told TechNewsWorld.

"If the Twitter password is reused elsewhere, Twitter two-factor authentication isn't going to help you on those other accounts," Trend Micro Global Threat Communications Manager Christopher Budd told TechNewsWorld.

Somewhat interestingly, the individual conducting the chat conversation did not appear to know the ransom amount that the victim was being asked to pay and appeared reliant on the honesty of the victim to provide that information. “That’s because they haven’t built a channel to upload data from the victim to the ‘call center,’” says Christopher Budd, global threat communications manager at Trend Micro.

“The benefit is the user doesn't get infected, so the likelihood that they won't report the issue to the website owner is higher than if malware was used to infect them,” Trend Micro Senior Global Marketing Manager Jon Clay told SCMagazine.com. “This allows their scam to run longer than normal.”