An election malware has been discovered by a certain malware detection team just recently. This software menace invades your computer system by shutting down all your processes and puts a seemingly scary message on your screen.
The annoying popup message would ask you to pay fifty dollars to the CIA or FBI through a PaySafeCard. It also comes with a threat to remove your name from the voter’s list if you don’t abide. It may sound absurd but the threat still would be a great matter of concern for many concern citizens especially the seniors.
Think of it as being held to pay ransom online for an imaginary friend. That’s if you have an imaginary friend or if you would consider it valuable for ransom with real money.
But the election malware is no real election threat. It doesn’t even have the capability to encrypt your files. Also, it doesn’t have control over the voting system. It just a simple bluff hoping to scare innocent victims into shedding out some cards out of their bank accounts.
It is easy to debunk this computer menace. A good antivirus can exterminate this bug. You don’t need extensive computer skills to sweep this virus out of your system. You can even just simply reinstall the infected software component and the nasty culprit is gone.
So, this is the "Official CIA Election AntiCheat Control".
You have to buy $50 Paysafecard for verification.@BleepinComputer
cc @CIA @FBI pic.twitter.com/qnj8XGWuI6— MalwareHunterTeam (@malwrhunterteam) October 22, 2016
But a majority of the voting population are seniors. Most of them are not quite knowledgeable about computers and technology except for clicking the mouse button. They also are not aware of all the shenanigans going around the Internet. Hence, they could easily fall prey to these deceitful schemes. Hence, these conniving crooks are targeting the senior population with the election malware.
People are recommended, then, to take note of these precautions to keep themselves for falling into the trap of these online snakes. First, is to never download files from unfamiliar websites. It is also advised to use an adblocker on your browser. Also, keep your Windows updated and have a good anti-virus running on your system. Make sure that all your software are up-to-date.
Simple steps are needed to avoid this malicious software. You might even be doing these things already. Let this just serve as a reminder to be more cautious about the things that you do over the Internet.
