Friday, May 17, 2013

What is the FBI Virus, anyways?


The ‘FBI Virus’ is going around.  We’ve been getting a lot of calls from clients about what it is, and how to get rid of it.  When a computer gets infected with this 'ransomware' (a form of malware), usually a screen will pop up with the FBI logo and will say that your computer has been involved in illegal activity.  Sometimes it will ask you pay a penalty fine to unlock your computer.  This is totally bogus!  Do NOT enter your credit card information.

This malware completely locks up your computer screen, so that you can’t get out of the fake FBI screen.  Once you have the virus, it has likely already disabled your anti-virus software, so cleanup often involves a Safe Mode scan with special anti-malware utilities. In some more series cases, it is necessary to remove the hard drive from the infected computer for offline drive scanning by a second computer setup with anti-malware utilities.

Below are screenshots of three of the different fake FBI virus screens going around..




Please call us at 419.539.6922 if you need help removing this malware.