You have been called to the office of the CEO for a confidential meeting. In the meeting the CEO informs you he 'has a virus that won't let him login without paying a fee.' You begin to investigate the issue and find that the CEO downloaded a file from a website a friend shared on a social media site. After downloading the file his computer restarted and now will not allow anyone to login unless they enter credit card information. Which option best describes the attack used in this scenario based on the information available?
The CEO downloaded and executed Ransomware
The CEO executed a Rootkit which gave backdoor access to a hacker
The CEO was the target of a spear phishing social engineering attack
A botnet is attacking the CEO's computer and disabling login attempts
This type of malware is called Ransomware. It holds data or information ransom until a fee is paid after which point it will return the information or data (or so it says...). Based on the information available in the question this is the only conclusion we can make. It is possible as the CEO of the company they were targeted specifically via social media (spear phishing) but there isn't definitive evidence of this yet.
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What exactly is Ransomware and how does it work?
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What are some common methods ransomware uses to infect computers?
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Can Ransomware be removed without paying the ransom?