The Postal and Communications Police received in recent days numerous reports regarding the receipt of strange e-mails, also in English, which in the object report our e-mail address and our password, current or past, and in the message inform that thanks to the knowledge of our password, the sender, hidden or with a fancy name, would be able to get control of our device and webcam, and would later, without our knowledge, filmed, we would be intent to watch movies pornographic.
The message continues with the threat of spreading the alleged intimate video to a list of our contacts (family and friends), which it would have thanks to a previous unauthorized access to our social profiles in case you do not proceed to the payment of a ransom in bitcoin.
The peremptory offer was sent by mail to hundreds of addresses of entrepreneurs, heads of public and private companies, institutional figures, university professors. With the same message and the same terrible blackmail and with requests that have come up to 5.000 dollars.
It is understandable how this situation has thrown e-mail recipients into panic, considering that the password corresponds to the one used and that the threat of the diffusion of private videos suggests an unpredictable and destabilizing scenario. The hundreds of e-mails sent to rain throughout Italy have created a real widespread alarm among citizens and public figures. Different reactions, numerous complaints but also many people who, for fear of the spread of "phantom" videos, remain silent.
The Postal and Communications Police has ascertained that this is "simply" the latest way in which unscrupulous cybercriminals try to force the unfortunate to suffer real cyber-extortion.
The only authentic element of the whole affair is represented by the password - even previous and no longer used by us - of our virtual account, password of which the criminals in question have come into possession by exploiting, presumably, the numerous black markets present on the darkweb.
All the rest, however, represents an invention of the offender, developed for the sole purpose of throwing ourselves into a panic and causing us to pay the illicit sum. Technically it is impossible, in fact, that anyone, even if entered illegally into our mailbox, could install a virus that could take control of our device, by activating the webcam or stealing our data.
The State Police provides, therefore, some tips to increase the defense jerseys.
Keep calm: The criminal does not have, in fact, any video that portrays us in intimate attitudes or, in all likelihood, the passwords of social profiles from which to draw the list of our friends or relatives
Do not pay absolutely any ransom: the experience gained with respect to previous criminal cases (such as sextortion and ransomware) shows that even when the criminal actually has our data, paying the ransom determines the only effect a fury in extortion requests, times to get more money
Properly protect our email (and in general our virtual accounts): change - if you have not already done so - the password, setting complex passwords; never use the same password for multiple profiles; enable, where possible, "strong" authentication mechanisms for our virtual spaces, which associate the insertion of the password with the entry of a security code received on our mobile phone
Keep in mind that the inoculation (the real one) of computer viruses capable of taking control of our devices can only occur if the cyber criminals have had physical availability of the devices themselves, or if they have managed to consume, to our detriment, phishing episodes IT: it is therefore good practice to never leave our devices unattended (and unprotected) and be careful not to click on suspicious links or e-mail attachments
Always update the operating system of our devices, and install and keep updated antivirus systems.