Homeland Security Virus

Homeland Security Virus is a ransomware infection which seeks to deceive you into paying a considerable sum of money. The threat is distributed by the Trojan Urausy which is known to be associated with a great variety of ransomware scams. Like in previous cases known to malware researchers, the Trojan locks the system down and displays a fraudulent full-screen message containing the heading Homeland Security: National Cyber Security Division and the logo U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Not surprisingly, there is also a statement, typical of other ransomware threats, which claims that the computer has been blocked. Very similar phrases you will find in the notification of FBI Virus, FBI Cybercrime Division Virus and other variants.

In the case of the infection in question, you are accused of being involved in pornography issues and of using copyrighted material and unlicensed software. Below you will find two statements which are present in the bogus notification:

To unlock the computer you are obliged to pay a fine of $300. You must pay the fine through MoneyPak.

We advise you to ignore the warning because you can unlock your compute by using a reliable spyware removal tool. The fact that the notification contains the credentials of an authoritative institution does not mean that the institution is somehow related to you and the lock-down of your PC. Cyber criminals tend to present various legal enforcement agencies in order to convince the victim that he/she has to react to the instructions given in the message. Moreover, in order variants of Homeland Security Virus, instead of MoneyPak you can find other such prepaid services as Ukash or Paysafecard.

If you ever find yourself in a very similar situation, contact the institution present in the notification to find out whether you are dealing with a legitimate notification. Now as you know that Homeland Security Virus is nothing but a scam, you should remove it from the PC immediately. The immediate actions are necessary in order to prevent system disorders initiated by the Trojan. The sooner you remove Homeland Security Virus, the sooner you regain access to the system, not to mention that the risk of getting the PC infected with new malware will be minimized.

How to remove Homeland Security Virus

Windows XP

1. Restart the computer.
2. Tap the F8 key once the BIOS startup screen loads.
3. Using the arrow keys, select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter.
4. Click on Yes.
5. Go to the Start menu.
6. Launch Run.
7. Type msconfig in the Open box.
8. Press OK.
9. Under the Startup tab, click on Disable All.
10. Select Apply.
11. Go to http://www.pcthreat.com/download-sph and download our spyware removal tool SpyHunter.
12. Restart the PC.
13. When the system loads, run the installer and remove Homeland Security Virus.

Windows Vista/7

1. Restart the computer.
2. Wait for the BIOS startup screen to load and then immediately start tapping the F8 key.
3. In the Windows Advanced Options Menu, select Safe Mode with Networking using the up/down arrow key.
4. Press Enter.
5. Download SpyHunter from our website.
6. Install the application and scan the PC to detect the infection.

Windows 8

1. Press the Windows key to open your Metro UI.
2. Open Internet Explorer.
3. Enter http://www.pcthreat.com/download-sph and click on Run.
4. Scan the PC to have the infection detected and remove.
5. Restart the computer after the removal.