New type of ransomware demands nude pictures of its victims instead of the usual Bitcoins

A new type of ransomware doesn't ask victims for money (usually Bitcoins) to regain access to their computer, but demands nude pictures. Security researchers from MalwareHunterTeam posted a screenshot on Twitter of the ransomware that calls itself 'nRansom'. According to the text on the screenshot, the ransomware locks the computer, and it can only be unlocked by acquiring the unlock code from the cybercriminals.

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To receive this code, an email account on the encrypted email service ProtonMail has to be created and then 10 nude pictures have to be sent to another ProtonMail address. After the cybercriminals have verified the nude pictures are really from the victim, they will send the unlock code. It's unclear how the criminals are able to verify that the pictures are really from the victims, but likely they search the internet to check if the pictures aren't from an internet site.

The ransomware doesn't encrypt files on the computer but instead locks the computer, this type of malware is also known as 'screen locker'. Currently the 35 of the 64 virus scanners on VirusTotal are able to detect the malware.

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