Landespolizeidirection Ransomware

Germany and Austria are among the most important markets for ransomware developers. This has resulted in a larger than normal number of variants of German language ransomware Trojans. The 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware infection is one the many ransomware Trojans specifically designed to target computer users in Austria. The 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware variant is one of the many Trojans belonging to the Urusay family of malware. One of the characteristics of this family of malware is that variants affect computers according to their geographical location. Because of this, the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware will typically infect computers with an Austrian or German IP address. Computers located elsewhere will be infected with Urusay variants corresponding to other countries.

There are several ways in which the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware can infect a computer. Like most Trojan infections, the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware cannot spread on its own. Instead, the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware relies on other malware and on social engineering scams in order to enter a computer. The 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware is typically distributed using exploit kits. These are often located on attack websites, which attempt to inject malware into visitors' computers. Computer users are directed towards these websites by malicious scripts, spam email attachments and social engineering scams designed to convince computer users to click on malicious links or download malicious content themselves. Common sources for these include malicious advertisements and spam email messages.

Like most ransomware Trojans, the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware blocks access to the infected computer. The 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware threatens the victim by claiming that their computer was used to distribute illegally obtained copyrighted material. The 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware will then charge the victim a 'fine' in order to unblock the infected computer. This fine can be paid using Ukash, a legitimate money transfer service that a lot of times is used in these types of scams, despite not being connected to malware developers directly. Computer users should know that paying the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware's ransom will do nothing to remove the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware infection from your computer. However, the fact that many inexperienced computer users will pay the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware fine has contributed towards making these kinds of scams especially prevalent since 2012. ESG security researchers recommend instead removing the 'Landespolizeidirection' Ransomware Trojan by starting up your computer through an alternate boot method (such as Safe Mode) and then using a reliable anti-malware scanner to erase this threat from your machine.