Two city-based professionals, who were working from home and using the Zoom video calling app, reportedly got ransomware threats, demanding payments in bitcoins, police said on Wednesday.
The hackers asked for ransom to release the data which were encrypted from their computers, a senior officer of the Kolkata Police informed.
Both of them were using Zoom. They reported getting emails from the hackers asking for payment in bitcoins. In the mail, a specific link was also given to purchase bitcoins, an official of the cyber-crime department mentioned.
It has been reported that the hackers have also intimidated that non-compliance to their demands would lead to a permanent loss of the data, the officer shared.
According to one of the complainants, the hackers have demanded USD 1,000 in bitcoin to decrypt the files, police said.
Besides the cyber-crime department, the Special Task Force (STF) has also started an investigation into the matter, they said.
These hackers target vulnerable computer systems and then attack them using ransomware to acquire sensitive files. We are checking how the Zoom app was used in this crime. We are also checking the link sent in the mail to find out more about the matter, the officer stated.
The warning, earlier issued by Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In), was reiterated by the Cyber Coordination Centre (CyCord) of the Home Ministry in an advisory on April 16.
