Password found that unlocks virus

Anti-virus firms have discovered a password required to unlock a new virus, hidden within the virus code itself.

The Archiveus virus first appeared at the beginning of May and is one of a new breed of "ransomware" viruses, that attempt to extort money from it's victis. This virus searches for documents in the 'My Documents' folder on an infected PC and then swaps them with a single password protected file.

The user of an infected PC is then told that they will only be able to access the files if they buy purchase drugs from one of three online pharmacies.

The first known infected PC acquired the virus when the user responded to a pop-up message warning her that her PC had been infected with another, unnamed, virus.

The password to unlock the infected files is:

mf2lro8sw03ufvnsq034jfowr18f3cszc20vmw

and using it should unlock all the hijacked files.

To read the full article from the BBC website click here.