New Ransomware Offers The Decryption Keys If You Infect Your Friends

MalwareHunterTeam has discovered "Popcorn Time," a new in-development ransomware with a twist. Gumbercules!! writes: "With Popcorn Time, not only can a victim pay a ransom to get their files back, but they can also try to infect two other people and have them pay the ransom in order to get a free key," writes Bleeping Computer. Infected victims are given a "referral code" and, if two people are infected by that code and pay up -- the original victim is given their decryption key (potentially). While encrypting your files, Popcorn Time displays a fake system screen that says "Downloading and installing. Please wait" -- followed by a seven-day countdown clock for the amount of time left to pay its ransom of one bitcoin. That screen claims that the perpetrators are "a group of computer science students from Syria," and that "all the money that we get goes to food, medicine, shelter to our people. We are extremely sorry that we are forcing you to pay but that's the only way that we can keep living." So what would you do if this ransomware infected your files?

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