NEW CRYPTO VIRUS A LOOMING THREAT

The emergence of a variant on a virus that encrypts the victim's data with a strong 1,024-bit algorithm so the victim can't unscramble it without paying a ransom has begun to spread, potentially posing a major threat, according to the antimalware firm which discovered it.Kaspersky Lab says the new variant of the Windows-based encryptor virus Gpcode, which hasn't been spotted for about 1 ½ years, is more of a threat than it was in the past.