Ransomware leverages victims’ browser histories for increased credibility

A researcher says: Visited websites are listed as source of illegal material in order to make the bogus police messages more believable.

According to an independent malware researcher, the authors of police-themed ransomware have started using the browsing histories from infected computers in order to make their scams more believable.

Ransomware is a type of malicious applications intended to extort money from users by immobilizing chief system functionality or by encrypting their personal files. A specific distinction of this class of threat flaunts messages camouflaged as notifications from law enforcement agencies.

The scam varies depending on location of the victims, its language, tone of the message and the agency names. Although this may be the case, in most cases ransomware in general will make their victims believe that their computers have been locked because they accessed or downloaded illegal content. Then users are asked to pay a fine to recover access to their computers.

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