Oct 11, 2012 : After historic Internet protests in January the SOPA anti-piracy bill was defeated. However, this week several reports have pointed to a rather unfortunate SOPA comeback. Not in Congress, but as a nasty cryptovirus that locks up people’s computers and accuses them of distributing copyright infringing files. Infected users can get their data back after a payment of $200 – at least, that’s what the virus makers promise.
The Stop Online Piracy ACT (SOPA) was a major threat to the Internet. The bill introduced draconian censorship tools for the Government and copyright holders, that worried the public and many key Internet companies including Reddit, Google and Wikipedia.
After months of protest, the bill was eventually killed off following the Internet Blackoutearlier this year.
But that doesn’t mean SOPA is no longer a threat. This week ‘the bill’ was resurrected by a virus maker, who has been warning users of infected computers that their IP-address is on a blacklist after it was discovered distributing illegal content.
SOPA Ransomware
As a result, the SOPA virus holds all files on the host computer ransom.
“Your computer is locked!” the splash screen above warns, adding:
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