Antivirus 2009 holds documents for ransom

An interesting article by Brian Krebs in the Washington Post tells about a new variant of the old (and very frustrating) XP Antivirus/XP Antivirus 2008 /XP Antivirus 2009 family of crapware.

The twist? Antivirus 2009 encrypts the contents of your My Documents folder, then demands $50 for a key to unlock them.

I’ve had so many people ask me for help with XP Antivirus. They just know their XP machines are littered with viruses because XP Antivirus told them so. And when they paid for the full version of XP Antivirus, they found that they couldn’t get rid of it.

I hope the people behind XP Antivirus and its ilk rot in hell. Or in jail. Whichever comes first.