Microsoft Office 2020 Full Page

Then the errors began.

Panicked, he opened Excel and looked at the "About" section. No product ID. No license expiry. Just a single line of text: "Office 2020 Full – Unlocked by ShadowGroup."

"Thank you for installing the full version, Alex. Your data has been indexed. Your thesis topic: 'Neural Networks in Economics' has been flagged. Your bank balance: $441.32. Your most frequent contact: Mom. A ransom of 0.5 Bitcoin has been donated to a clean water charity in your name. You’re welcome."

Alex sat in the dark. His thesis was due for a final print in six hours. He had no software. He had no backup. And somewhere, a hacker had just used his processing power to mine cryptocurrency while making a charitable donation he couldn't afford.

Moral of the story: