Whois & Analysis for metacert.com

Ransomware is computer malware that installs covertly on a victim's device (e.g., computer, smartphone, wearable device) and that either mounts the cryptoviral extortion attack from cryptovirology that holds the victim's data hostage, or mounts a cryptovirology leakware attack that threatens to publish the victim's data, until a ransom is paid.

Simple ransomware may lock the system in a way which is not difficult for a knowledgeable person to reverse, and display a message requesting payment to unlock it.

More advanced malware encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them.

The ransomware may also encrypt the computer's Master File Table (MFT) or the entire hard drive.

Thus, ransomware is a denial-of-access attack that prevents computer users from accessing files since it is intractable to decrypt the files without the decryption key.

Ransomware attacks are typically carried out using a Trojan that has a payload disguised as a legitimate file.

Phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

The word is a neologism created as a homophone of fishing due to the similarity of using a bait in an attempt to catch a victim.

According to the 3rd Microsoft Computing Safer Index Report released in February 2014, the annual worldwide impact of phishing could be as high as $5 billion.

Malware, short for malicious software, is any software used to disrupt computer or mobile operations, gather sensitive information, gain access to private computer systems, or display unwanted advertising.

Before the term malware was coined by Yisrael Radai in 1990, malicious software was referred to as computer viruses.

The first category of malware propagation concerns parasitic software fragments that attach themselves to some existing executable content.

The fragment may be machine code that infects some existing application, utility, or system program, or even the code used to boot a computer system.

Malware is defined by its malicious intent, acting against the requirements of the computer user, and does not include software that causes unintentional harm due to some deficiency.

Identity theft is the deliberate use of someone else's identity, usually as a method to gain a financial advantage or obtain credit and other benefits in the other person's name, and perhaps to the other person's disadvantage or loss.

The person whose identity has been assumed may suffer adverse consequences if they are held responsible for the perpetrator's actions.

Identity theft occurs when someone uses another's personally identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.

The term identity theft was coined in 1964.

A website is a collection of related web pages, including multimedia content, typically identified with a common domain name, and published on at least one web server.

A website may be accessible via a public Internet Protocol (IP) network, such as the Internet, or a private local area network (LAN), by referencing a uniform resource locator (URL) that identifies the site.