BLUF
In 1989 Eddie Willems became the worlds first known recipient of a ransomware attack.
Summary
In 1989 Eddy Willems was checking floppy discs to be distributed at a conference. The article covers what happened next as follows:
- The discs contained medical research.
- A few days later, his computer locked.
- A message appeared demanding $189.00 be sent to an account in Panama, or he would lose all of his data.
- Willems knew how to extract data from his computer without paying a ransom.
- Some medical researchers lost a lot of work.
- Willems said the consequences of this attack were severe.
- The floppy discs had been sent to addresses obtained from a mailing list. Ransomware* attack traced to Joseph Popp, a research scientist.
- Popp was arrested and charged with blackmail.