You receive a pop-up message that your computer has been hacked and is being held hostage. To regain access to your computer, you can either make a ransom payment of one bitcoin - worth today around $2,850 - or you can try and infect 2 new people on behalf of the attackers.

According to the NYTimes, cybersecurity experts refer to this new form of payoff, which began late last year, as "Popcorn Time ransomware." So marks the first Ponzi scheme for one of the oldest, and most prevalent, forms of cyberattacks.

Talk about growth industries. In 2016, cyber criminals took in some $1 billion. [It's probable that the figure is way higher - given the numbers of victims who never report hacking incidents.] Imagine what that number will reach in 2017 - especially given the meteoric rise in the bitcoin market!