These days, cybercriminals seem to have one thing on their mind: your money. Gone are the days where a virus would simply infect your .exe files and make your system hard - or damn near impossible - to use.

It's bad enough that the bulk of the malware and malicious web scripting we're confronted with on daily basis wants to trick us into installing rogue antivirus software - which tries to trick users into paying to register the useless scareware. Now, they're moving up to hostage taking.

Yep. Digital hostages could be the next big thing in cybercrime, whether it be your iPhone or your important .DOC files.

Ars Technica reported recently about one hacker who exploited vulnerabilities in jailbroken iPhones to gain access, alter the lockscreen to display the warning in the screenshot, and ask for €5 to leave users alone. He also promised to provide a link to instructions on how to prevent this particular hack.

In this particular case, the hacker had a change of heart and has now posted said removal instructions at no charge. If we hear about one, chances are good there are dozens more - many of whom won't show this kind of courtesy after-the-fact.

iPhone aren't the only thing under attack. Computer Associates have discovered a new ransomware variant called LoroBot which targets a PC user's data - specifically doc, xls, zip, mp3, txt, docx, xlsx, and others. Once a system has been infected, the malware then goes to work encrypting those files so you can no longer access them.

The only way to gain access again? Why, to pay the piper, of course. $100 will get you the necessary file to undo the encryption. Fortunately, CA has also provided a tool to do it for free (download here) if you've been victimized. Rogue antivirus apps were once fairly uncommon and now they're everywhere. Could ransomware be the next big thing?

One thing is for sure: if you're running Windows you're using the most popular OS in the world - and because of its massive market share, it's the number one target for malware. Make sure your system is fully updated and you're running a good antivirus app.