Mobile security
As smartphones are a permanent point of access to the internet (mostly on), they can be compromised as easily as computers with malware. A malware is a computer program that aims to harm the system in which it resides. Trojans, worms and viruses are all considered malware. A Trojan is a program that is on the smartphone and allows external users to connect discreetly. A worm is a program that reproduces on multiple computers across a network. A virus is malicious software designed to spread to other computers by inserting itself into legitimate programs and running programs in parallel. However, it must be said that the malware are far less numerous and important to smartphones as they are to computers.
Locky
Locky is ransomware malware released in 2016. It is delivered by email (that is allegedly an invoice requiring payment) with an attached Microsoft Word document that contains malicious macros. When the user opens the document, it appears to be full of garbage, and includes the phrase "Enable macro if data encoding is incorrect," a social engineering technique. If the user does enable macros, they save and run a binary file that downloads the "actual" encryption trojan, which will encrypt all files that match particular extensions. Filenames are converted to a unique 16 letter and number combination. Initially, only the .locky file extension was used for these encrypted files. Subsequently, other file extensions have been used, including .zepto, .odin, .aesir, .thor, and .zzzzz. After encryption, a message (displayed on the user's desktop) instructs them to download the Tor browser and visit a specific criminal-operated Web site for further information. The Web site contain instructions that demand a payment of between 0.5 and 1 bitcoin (as of November 2017, one bitcoin varies in value between $9,000 and $10,000 via a bitcoin exchange). Since the criminals possess the private key and the remote servers are controlled by them, the victims are motivated to pay to decrypt their files.