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Bitdefender Provides Free Removal Tool for 'Piracy' Trojan

Bianca STANESCU

November 14, 2012

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Bitdefender Provides Free Removal Tool for 'Piracy' Trojan

Bitdefender has released a free tool to remove the “Piracy” Trojan that infected millions of users worldwide with a fake police message accusing them of piracy.

User infected with Trojan.Ransom.IcePol can install the Bitdefender tool to wipe the malicious software from their computers and restore their devices by visiting http://download.bitdefender.com/removal_tools/BDRemoval_Trojan_Ransom_IcePol.exe and running the tool in Safe Mode.

“The Piracy Trojan capitalizes on that same sudden jolt of fear people experience when they hear a police siren and see the flashing lights behind them as they’re being pulled over,” said Bitdefender Chief Security Researcher Alexandru Balan. “The Trojan scans the victim’s IP address, tells him the message is from police, and then accuses him of an offense he very well may have committed without even knowing it. Unlike older ransomware threatening fines for zoophilic pornography, this particular Trojan focuses on copyright infringement. It’s highly effective.”

With piracy losses rising up at billions of dollars a year and millions of computers worldwide harboring pirated files, software, music, movies and more, the Piracy Trojan can claim victims in almost any country, among any social group.

The Trojan intimidates users with localized messages coming from police offices in countries such as the US, the UK, Germany, Austria, Holland, and Romania. Cyber-criminals demand victims pay as much as $200 USD, sometimes converted into local currency. To add credibility to the fake FBI message, they even warn about payment scams through a fraud alert.

With its roots in Russia, ransomware is a class of malware used for extortion that blocks access to the computers it infects, asking for money to remove the restriction.

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Bianca STANESCU

Bianca Stanescu, the fiercest warrior princess in the Bitdefender news palace, is a down-to-earth journalist, who's always on to a cybertrendy story.

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