If you've used Monster.com, you might not want to download any software that they recommend in an email:
Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly in the U.S., have been exposed to the risk of file ransom after the Web site of the world's largest online recruiter was hacked.
Personal details stored on Monster.com, a Web site that lists job seekers and job opportunities, were taken after a raid by hackers who posed as employers to gain access to the site.
Having stolen the information, hackers e-mailed the victims claiming to have infected their computers with a virus and threatening to delete files unless demands for payment were met.
In all, more than 1.6 million entries in Monster's system — belonging to "several hundred thousand" members — were taken after the hackers logged in using the details of employers who routinely scour the site for prospective workers, according to the Silicon Valley security firm Symantec.
The information, which included first and last names, e-mail and home addresses and phone numbers, was then used to send "phishing" e-mails to members, apparently from Monster.com, encouraging them to download a tool known as "Monster Job Seeker."
The tool was in fact a malicious program known as a "Trojan," as in Trojan horse, which encrypted files on the victims' machines, making them inaccessible to the computer owner.
A message was left requesting that money be paid to the attackers before the files — which could include photos and other personal documents — would be decrypted.
