We have received a number of reports of LSE staff and students falling victim to a form of virus known as ransomware. This particular form of ransomware shows itself by claiming the computer has been used for illegal activity and has been locked by the police, and will only be unlocked upon payment of £100.
This is a scam. If your computer gets infected by this virus, do not pay any money in an attempt to get your machine unlocked. It will not work, and you will be funding crime.
If you’re on campus and receive the infection on an LSE machine, please talk to the IT Service Desk in order to get the infection wiped.
Anyone who suffers this infection on a home machine can take a number of measures to try to get rid of it.
Please see the Metropolitan Police advice for details on what you can do.
The virus is spread using known vulnerabilities in common programs such as Adobe Acrobat and Java. Please make sure that you keep any personal computers fully patched – not just the operating systems but also all the programs too – and keep your anti-virus up to date.
IMT offer free antivirus software to LSE staff and students.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us: