Users around the world have been hit by a mysterious hacker who claims to have cracked their emails. The criminal in question informs their victims via email of the damage they could potentially do. And, ironically, the email is also quite polite, although not written in perfect English.
In it, the programmer in question claims to have gained access to the victims’ passwords around half a year prior and has since acquired all sorts of sensitive information from their computers. This includes personal contacts, browsing history and, obviously, email correspondence. But on top of that, the perpetrator says they have installed a RAT (Remote Access Trojan) program on the hacked PCs.
Furthermore, the purpose of the email is to actually blackmail users into paying a sum of $871 in Bitcoin in exchange for their personal data remaining personal. Otherwise, the hacker threatens to make this information public or lock the device.
At this time not much else is known about the entity sending these emails, but there are two possibilities. Either it is simply a scare tactic with nothing to back it up, or there is indeed truth to what is stated in those emails. To rule out the latter, users who have received the cryptic messages are advised to run a full virus scan on their systems. In the event that there is indeed a malicious program installed, it needs to be removed without delay in order to prevent any further potential damage.
But even if the search reveals nothing, as well as for those of you who haven’t received the “Programmer who cracked your email” messages, it’s important to practice safe browsing habits on a daily basis. It’s highly possible to fall victim to such attacks when visiting insecure web locations, downloading suspicious content and being careless with one’s own personal information. For this reason, we highly recommend only sticking to reputable websites and keeping your system fully up-to-date. In addition, a good quality antivirus system also goes a long way in maintaining a healthy computer.