He ran it. The installation bar raced to 100% in seconds. But the software never opened.
A single notepad file appeared in the center of the screen: READ_ME_FOR_YOUR_FILES.txt .
Elias opened it. The message was short and cold: βAll your files have been encrypted with AES-256. Send 0.05 Bitcoin to the following address to receive your decryption key. You have 48 hours.β

