Cyber thugs taking data hostage
SAN FRANCISCO - Marriage therapist Valerie Goss turned on her computer one day and found that all of her data was being held hostage.
Malicious code referred to as "ransomware" had encrypted her files and locked them away. Cyber criminals demanded $500 in hard-to-trace virtual currency Bitcoin to give her the key. The ransom would jump to $1,000 in Bitcoin if Goss took more than a day to pay.