Your money or your file

In the latest twist on Dick Turpin style hold ups crooks are spreading malicious code which encrypts a companies data or a users emails. They are then demanding electronic payments for the digital keys to unlock them again through services such as PayPal.

According to security firm Websense, one recent victim was the tech administrator at a company in the Northeast. His PC was infected by malicious code, which scrambled company files. An e-mailed ransom note demanded $200 for the digital keys to unlock the files.

The victim did not pay because he doubted his data would be returned even if he paid, says Dan Hubbard, vice president of security and research at Websense. Most of the stolen files were recovered from a backup disk, Hubbard says.

In this electronic age losing your data really is a case of "Your money or your life!"