Ransomware

  

Categories: Ethics/Morals

Ransomwhat? Ransomwhen? Ransomwho? Ok, ok, nvm.

Ransomware is software that has nefariously been placed onto your computer or network by nefarious hackers who now know your business. They know you're having anger management issues with your boss. They know you like 8 balls (and not the billiards flavor). They know you download "art films" with extremely long-footed women in them. Now they want to make you pay...or else. They'll threaten to do all kinds of bad things to you, from making public all of the above, to taking your credit cards and buying stuff with them all over the world.

The easiest way to combat? Stop fighting with your boss and/or get a new job, don't do illegal drugs, get over it re: the foot fetish thing, etc. Like...really. A million people starve to death on this planet each month. We have bigger things to worry about than toenail-red-#17. And the credit card thing? Just keep a few cards. Cancel them every few years or get the companies to reissue them with new numbers. A hassle, yes, but way better than dealing with someone who has you by the short toes.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What are Phishing Scams?8 Views

00:00

Finance a la shmoop what are phishing scams? all right you know when you're out [Woman on fishing boat with Dad]

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on the lake with dad just the two of you trying to haul in some trout when one of

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the fish pulls a fast one on you and hangs one of these things on your line [Fishing line with boot attached]

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yeah total scam we're telling you you cannot trust anything that breathes

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through the side of its face anymore these days really okay so that's a not

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quite a phishing scam although the general idea is similar it's someone

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trying to make you believe something that isn't exactly true with a phishing

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scam the venue switches from the great outdoors to cyberspace never gotten an [A wooden hut appears]

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email from a Nigerian prince who's temporarily down on his luck and if

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you'll just wire him three hundred bucks in cash immediately well immeasurable

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riches await you it sounds like a little good to be true there right yeah and it [Man gives thumbs up in room]

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is well usually that Nigerian prince is an overweight balding guy named Jerry

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living in his mom's basement in a suburb just outside of Cleveland he'd love

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nothing more than to hook a sucker you and take that 300 bucks [Jerry on his computer]

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off your hands but many times the scam is much more intricate than that often

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its identity thieves who are trying to con you into releasing private

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information such as your social security number or credit card information mm-hmm

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that's out there well they might try to convince you that

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their Amazon support or your bank or your long-lost uncle Yusuf who just [Person flicking through e-mails]

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needs a few personal details before he can FedEx you your large inheritance

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don't fall for any of it anytime you're randomly asked to divulge any sensitive

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information or pop a wad of cash in an envelope stop for a second and ask

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yourself whatever you might be well a fish and then ask yourself whether you'd [Cash burning]

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like all your hard-earned money to be sauteed or flame-broiled good stuff...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)