There is nothing like a message from a very powerful government agency informing you of wrongdoings to make you release effluvia into your pants. For the general population of computer users, we generally stay on the safe side of computer use. We pay for software we need or download free versions of the ones we need if they are available. We go to trusted sites to watch video or listen to music since many of these sites have expanded their offerings to include movies we want to watch or music made accessible by the artists themselves for streaming or free download.
Homeland Security Virus
So it is a cause of panic to anyone, who sees a message from Homeland Security and be accused of nefarious computer use. And what’s more alarming is to be charged a fine for your violation. It’s a scam! Your computer has just been infected with the Homeland Security virus.
Anybody who doesn’t know a thing about the Homeland Security virus has good reasons to be scared. One, it comes from a power government agency that is known to monitor computer traffic. Two, it already has locked you out of your computer, keeping you on the page and unable to access anything else on your computer. Third, the page tells you that you are being monitored and it has a webcam shot of one of your activity or your current online activity. And four is that you can’t verify if you’ve really downloaded a file or visited a site that is being investigated for compromising national security.
You are just being targeted for extortion by evil programmers on a power trip. The Homeland Security Virus belongs to the Trojan Urausy class, which is mainly a screen locker. While some virus in this class merely locks the screen and denies you access to the other contents of your computer, some have been observed to send information from your computer with the ability of the virus to connect your computer to the Internet. And it is not easy to catch these perpetrators since they use anonymous payment services for their misdeeds, making it difficult to get the necessary proof of their criminal activity.
So as a regular computer user with no knowledge of advanced malware removal, should you panic? Not in the least. First, do not be tempted to give in to their extortion. Next, learn the steps in how to access that part of your computer operation that says “advanced boot options.” Once you’ve reached this screen, choose the ‘safe mode with command prompt” option so that the computer takes you to the DOS operation. And from that point all you need is to make sure you are in the right directory, your hard drive, and what you need to do is a “system restore” – to bring your computer back to that time in its operation when the virus hasn’t infected your system. And it could be as simple as typing “rstrui.exe” on the command prompt screen.
And when you are successful in doing the system restore and now have your computer running again, make sure to run an up-to-date anti-virus program or a malware program to thoroughly remove the virus. And it would help if you install a real-time, cloud-based protection system on your computer.
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE UKASH 