Fireball (software)
Malware has the ability of running any code on victim computers, such as downloading an arbitrary file and hijacking and manipulating infected user's web traffic in order to generate advertisement revenue. It installs plugins and additional configurations to boost its advertisements, and has potential to turn into a distributor for any additional malware. Malware is spread mostly via bundling. It is installed on a victim's machine alongside a wanted program, often without the user’s consent. Digital marketing agency Rafotech has been indicated as producer of the software. The same company has been accused to host fake search engines, which redirect the queries to yahoo.com or google.com. The fake search engines include tracking pixels used to collect private information from users. Fireball manipulates the infected browsers and turn their default search engines and home pages into the above mentioned fake search engines, which enable the software to spy on users of the infected browsers.
Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software from cryptovirology that threatens to publish the victim's data or perpetually block access to it unless a ransom is paid. While some simple ransomware may lock the system in a way which is not difficult for a knowledgeable person to reverse, more advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion, in which it encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them. In a properly implemented cryptoviral extortion attack, recovering the files without the decryption key is an intractable problem – and difficult to trace digital currencies such as Ukash and cryptocurrency are used for the ransoms, making tracing and prosecuting the perpetrators difficult.