SAN FRANCISCO—Security researchers are confirming reports of what has been called by some "automated extortion on a massive scale". Victims of a computer worm called "Win32/Klade" began speaking out yesterday claiming they'd been contacted online with samples of stolen personal and compromising material, such as revealing digital photos from private social media sites and emails, or logs of erotic chats and text messages. These samples came with demands for as much as $2500 in order to prevent the stolen material being made public. When some victims ignored these threats it was made clear that this worm could and would make good those threats.
Many are calling this a wake up call, while others seem more amused than anything else. @DQWizard, a local social media consultant said he " ... couldn't be happier my junk is online. Hell I retweeted it, the traffic has been insane! It's not like I'm married like some of the others." Other more prominent figures are less enthusiastic, none replied to requests for comment.
Security companies on the other hand are interested in the less social aspects of this virus. Analysts are saying Klade represents several firsts never before seen "in the wild", the most sophisticated of which is the use of pre-trained text and image classification engines similar to those used to separate spam from regular email. This carefully assembled training data allows the virus to search your files and online accounts for the most illicit content quickly and accurately without human intervention.
Researchers also note that removing the virus by formatting, or even burning your computer as a Des Moines high school principal is reported to have done, will not help as the stolen material is copied before the victim is contacted.
There is currently no estimate of a total dollar amount involved, however some have speculated that given its popularity, the ad revenue for the site hosting the photos and emails of those victims who did not respond is likely more profitable than the amount of hush money paid so far. [Editor's note: link removed for privacy concerns.]
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