Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus

Posted by Lisa Blanc on April 30, 2013

What is Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus?

It is definitely disturbing when you open your computer and instead of your desktop you are greeted with a message that reads "The work of your computer has been suspended on the grounds of the violation of the law of the United States of America". This is how Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus manifests its presence. It is a ransomware infection that can be distributed in various ways, although the most common one is a bundled infection together with Urausy Trojan. Once Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus gets into your system, it blocks your desktop access by displaying a fake notification. The notification claims that you need to pay a particular release in order to avoid legal prosecution. You will only get rid of the message if you remove Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus from your PC for good.

Where does Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus come from?

Such behavior should be surprising, because Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus is a part of Ukash Virus family. It is a huge group of ransomware infections that make use of prepaid online payment systems to collect money from their victims - Ukash, MoneyPak, PaySafeCard, CashU and so on. These payment systems have nothing in common with Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus, but they become a useful tool for ransomware infections, because they do not require credit card authorization to transfer money. Thus, Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus is just as dangerous as FBI MoneyPak Virus, FBI Cybercrime Division, Interpol Virus and other similar infections. It also means that you have to ignore the message displayed on your screen altogether, because it is nothing, but a scam:

In connection with the decision of the Government as of January 26, 2013, all of the violations described above could be considered criminal. If the fine has not been paid, you will become the subject of criminal prosecution.

Amount of fine is $400. Payment must be made within 48 hours after the computer blocking.

An attempt to unlock the computer by yourself will lead to the full formatting of the operating system. All the files, videos, photos, documents on your computer will be deleted.

How to remove Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus?

It goes without saying that all the accusations of copyright infringement and child pornography storing are groundless, and you should never pay the 400 USD fine, because your computer will remain locked and you will only lose your money. Also, do not worry - Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus cannot delete your files. You need to unlock your computer on your own and then delete Joint Chiefs of Staff Virus for good.

How to restore desktop access

For Windows 8

Press Windows key and metro Start menu will open.
Click built-in Internet Explorer tile.
Enter http://www.anti-spyware-101.com/download-sph into address bar and press Enter.
Click Run on download dialog box.
Install SpyHunter and perform a full system scan.

For Windows Vista & Windows 7

Restart the PC and press F8 repeatedly for Advanced Boot Options menu to appear.
Use arrow keys to navigate and select Safe Mode with Networking. Press Enter.
Go to http://www.anti-spyware-101.com/download-sph and download SpyHunter.
Install the program and scan your PC.

For Windows XP