Locky ransomware spreading through spam campaign: ICERT

New Delhi: The central government on Saturday said that ransomware -- Locky -- is spreading through "massive spam campaign".

According to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT), "spam mails" are
being used to spread the ransomware.

"It has been reported that a new wave of spam mails are circulating... to spread variants of Locky ransomware. Reports indicate that over 23 million messages have been sent in this campaign," ICERT said.

"The message contains common subjects like please print, documents, photo, images, scans and pictures."

The ransomware is known to scramble contents of a computer or server and demands payment to unlock it "usually by anonymous decentralised virtual currency Bitcoins".