Android Ransomware Gets Cruel – Requires Factory Reset

We’ve all been told about viruses, be it at school or by our children, we all know that they are nasty little pieces of code that can do some nasty things to our PC’s. Even fewer people have heard about ransomware, though, a form of virus (or rather malware) that seeks to give the creator a little more of a benefit than just chaos and anarchy. Ransomware is built so that those infected are asked to pay for the device to normally return or decrypt files so that users can gain access to their systems. In this day and age though this can be disastrous as we often live with our devices providing reminders and memories that cannot be retrieved if lost, even more so if they appear on your smartphone.

Dubbed Android/Lockerpin.A, the latest in a long line of malware that targets the devices you hold and cherish in your everyday use. The app works by overlaying a screen, similar to the ones you get when you update your phone, over the permissions screen, meaning when you click yes what you are actually doing is giving the phone administrator rights. It then goes and changes your lock screen pin and asks for a payment of $500 (approximately £325). If you choose not to pay the only way to remove the software, thanks to its administrator rights, is to do a factory reset.

While only a small time danger due to its distribution in third party apps on the App store for android, the problem with software like this is it often gathers speed and momentum even sometimes managing to infect itself onto other devices through legitimate apps.

Thank you Ars Technica for the information and the image.