LabCorp experienced a breach this past weekend , which it nows says was a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom . The intrusion has also prompted concerns that patient data may have also been stolen Attack.Databreach . One of the biggest clinical lab testing companies in the world , LabCorp , was hit Attack.Ransom with a `` new variant of ransomware '' over the weekend . `` LabCorp promptly took certain systems offline as a part of its comprehensive response to contain and remove the ransomware from its system , '' the company told PCMag in an email . `` We are working to restore additional systems and functions over the next several days . '' LabCorp declined to say what variant of ransomware was used . But according to The Wall Street Journal , the company was hit Attack.Ransom with a strain known as SamSam . In March , the same strain attacked Attack.Ransom the city of Atlanta 's IT network . Like other ransomware variants , SamSam will effectively lock down a computer , encrypting all the files inside , and then demand Attack.Ransom the victim pay up Attack.Ransom to free the system . In the Atlanta attack Attack.Ransom , the anonymous hackers demanded Attack.Ransom $ 51,000 , which the city government reportedly refused to pay Attack.Ransom . How much the hackers are demanding Attack.Ransom from LabCorp is n't clear ; the company declined to answer further questions about the attack Attack.Ransom or if it will pay the ransom Attack.Ransom . The lab testing provider first reported the breach on Monday , initially describing it as `` suspicious activity '' on the company 's IT systems that relate to healthcare diagnostics . This prompted fears that patient data may have been stolen Attack.Databreach . The North Carolina-based company processes more than 2.5 million lab tests per week and has over 1,900 patient centers across the US . `` LabCorp also has connections to most of the hospitals and other clinics in the United States , '' Pravin Kothari , CEO of cybersecurity firm CipherCloud , said in an email . `` All of this presents , at some point , perhaps an increased risk of cyber attacks propagating and moving through this expanded ecosystem . '' On Thursday , LabCorp issued a new statement and said the attack Attack.Ransom was a ransomware strain . At this point , the company has found `` no evidence of theft Attack.Databreach or misuse of data , '' but it 's continuing to investigate . `` As part of our in-depth and ongoing investigation into this incident , LabCorp has engaged outside security experts and is working with authorities , including law enforcement , '' the company added .

Ransomware creators have attacked Attack.Ransom Malaysian media giant Media Prima Bhd and are demanding Attack.Ransom bitcoins before they can allow access to the company ’ s compromised computer systems . According to The Edge Markets , which initially broke the news , the hackers struck on November 8 consequently denying the company ’ s employees access to the email system . The hackers are now demanding Attack.Ransom 1,000 bitcoins , translating to approximately US $ 6.3 million at current market prices , to reauthorize access . Media Prima did not , however , confirm the attack Attack.Ransom though sources indicated that the publicly listed company would not be paying the ransom Attack.Ransom . Sources also told The Edge Markets that with access to the office email denied , the media giant had migrated to G Suite , a Google product hosted offsite . It was also not immediately clear whether the company which owns four TV stations , four radio stations and three national newspapers among other media assets had lodged a complaint with the police . Lucrative Business While extortionists have been targeting individuals in the recent past especially by threatening to reveal the porn-viewing habits of their victims , it has generally been more lucrative to target businesses . According to a report by cybersecurity firm Sophos , the SamSam ransomware , which has mostly targeted business enterprises and public bodies , has , for instance , generated its creators bitcoin worth more than US $ 6 million since it emerged three years ago . Some of the high-profile victims of ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom in the recent past have included the Port of San Diego . While the Californian port did not reveal the amount that the hackers demanded Attack.Ransom , it was serious enough that it got the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations , the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard involved . “ As previously stated , the investigation has detected that ransomware was used in this attack . The Port can also now confirm that the ransom note requested payment Attack.Ransom in Bitcoin , although the amount that was requested Attack.Ransom is not being disclosed , ” a statement from the Port of San Diego read , as CCN reported at the time . Can ’ t Pay , Won ’ t Pay Another high-profile target of ransomware in the recent past was the Professional Golfers Association ( PGA ) of America . In this case , the hackers encrypted critical files denying access to them just as the golfing body was holding a PGA Championship event as well as preparing for the Ryder Cup .

A group of hackers are allegedly threatening to remotely wipe millions of iPhones and iCloud accounts , unless Apple agrees to pay a ransom Attack.Ransom by April 7th . As Motherboard reports , the hackers – who are calling themselves the “ Turkish Crime Family ” – are demanding Attack.Ransom Apple pay a ransom Attack.Ransom of $ 75,000 ( in either the Bitcoin or Ethereum cryptocurrencies ) , or hand over $ 100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards . Motherboard ‘ s Joseph Cox reports that one of the hackers shared screenshots of emails that had allegedly been exchanged with Apple , including one where a member of Apple ’ s security team asked if the group would be willing to share a sample of the stolen data . If emails shared by the hackers are legitimate , then it appears that Apple ’ s security team also requested that a YouTube video be removed of an unnamed member of the gang using stolen credentials to access an elderly woman ’ s iCloud account and view photos that had previously been backed up online . The alleged emails from Apple go on to underline that the technology firm will “ not reward cyber criminals for breaking the law ” . What we don ’ t know is whether the email exchanges between the hackers and Apple are real or faked , and – indeed – whether the so-called “ Turkish Crime Gang ” really has access Attack.Databreach to a large number of Apple users ’ credentials . Other than the video of the elderly woman ’ s iCloud account being broken into , there has been no evidence shared with the media to suggest that the hackers ’ claims of having gained access Attack.Databreach to a large database of Apple usernames and passwords are legitimate . However , if it ’ s true that the hackers are attempting to engage with the media in an attempt to increase their chances of a substantial payout then that would be in line with an increasingly common technique deployed by extortionists . For instance , we have discussed before how an individual hacker or hacking group known as The Dark Overlord has targeted investment banks – stealing internal documents and bringing them to the public ’ s attention in an attempt to extort more money Attack.Ransom . In another extortion Attack.Ransom attempt , The Dark Overlord stole Attack.Databreach hundreds of gigabytes of files from the Gorilla Glue adhesive company , and attempted to increase their chances of crowbarring more money out of corporate victims by sharing details with security industry media . For the record , when The Dark Overlord contacted me to help them blackmail Attack.Ransom companies , I declined . I believe that companies should do everything in their power to protect their customers and prevent criminals from profiting from extortion Attack.Ransom . We simply don ’ t know the truth of the Turkish Crime Family ’ s claims , and whether Apple users are at risk . But I do hope that the media stories will help remind Apple users of the importance of using a strong , unique password to secure their account and enable two-factor authentication to make their accounts harder to break into .

Security experts say they are skeptical that a group of hackers called Turkish Crime Family actually possess a cache of hundreds of millions of Apple iCloud account credentials . A more plausible explanation , they say , is that crooks used credential stuffing attacks to amass a limited number of valid Apple usernames and passwords in attempt to extort money Attack.Ransom from Apple . Earlier this week , the group identifying itself as the Turkish Crime Family claimed to have a database of 750 million iCloud.com , me.com and mac.com email addresses and credentials . “ There have not been any breaches Attack.Databreach in any of Apple ’ s systems including iCloud and Apple ID , ” Apple said in a statement . “ The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained Attack.Databreach from previously compromised Attack.Databreach third-party services ” . Hackers behind the claim are demanding Attack.Ransom Apple pay Attack.Ransom them $ 75,000 in cryptocurrency or give Attack.Ransom them $ 100,000 in iTunes vouchers , according to reports . If demands are not met by April 7 , the group said it will begin deleting data stored on iCloud accounts en masse . An independent analysis of 54 samples of the breached account data provided to ZDNet by the hackers were valid . However , security experts such as Troy Hunt , who runs the data breach repository HaveIBeenPwned.com , still isn ’ t convinced . Hunt told Threatpost he suspects the hack is a hoax , admitting he has not seen the any samples of the breached data . “ It ’ s entirely possible whoever is behind this could have username and password pairs that work on a limited number of Apple accounts in just the same way as re-used credentials will work across all sorts of other accounts , ” Hunt said . He said the Turkish Crime Family likely has a far smaller pool of valid Apple credentials than it claims . Shuman Ghosemajumder , CTO of the firm Shape Security told Threatpost he suspects the hackers may have used credential stuffing attacks , using data from previous breaches , to gain access to an undetermined number of iCloud accounts . Shape Security estimates that last year alone 3.3 billion credentials were exposed Attack.Databreach via breaches . Despite credential stuffing ’ s low success rate of 1 percent to 2 percent , Ghosemajumder said , when applied to a large enough cache of data ( purchased on the dark web by the database ) the hackers may have enough information to successfully crack thousands of Apple accounts . “ There are certainly enough credentials spilled onto the internet to think someone could use credential stuffing techniques to pull together a convincing number of valid accounts in attempt to extort Attack.Ransom Apple for ransom money Attack.Ransom , ” Ghosemajumder said . Patrick Wardle , director of research at Synack , echoed the same credential theory suggesting that breaches Attack.Databreach over the past year have given hackers ample opportunity to pull together some valid iCloud account credentials . Since approaching Apple earlier this month with its demands , the Turkish Crime Family has been inconsistent about how many account credentials it allegedly possesses . Speaking to various different media outlets , the group has said it had 200 million credentials to as many as 750 million . The hacking group said that its repository isn ’ t the result of one breach , rather multiple . On Thursday , the group claimed to have a database of 750 million credentials , 250 million of which are “ checked and working , ” according to the group . Meanwhile , Apple says it ’ s actively monitoring to prevent unauthorized access to user accounts and is working with law enforcement to identify the criminals behind the Turkish Crime Family extortion scheme Attack.Ransom .

Media Prima Berhad 's computer systems have been locked out by cyber attackers who are demanding Attack.Ransom millions of ringgit in ransom Attack.Ransom . The media company , which runs a stable of TV and radio channels , newspapers , advertising and digital media companies was hit by a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom last Thursday ( Nov 8 ) , The Edge Financial Daily reported . Ransomware is a type of malicious software ( malware ) designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid Attack.Ransom . The report , quoting a source , said the attackers are demanding Attack.Ransom 1,000 bitcoins to release access to the computer systems . This means that the attackers are demanding a ransom Attack.Ransom of RM26.42 million ( S $ 8.71 million ) . Media Prima is listed on Bursa Malaysia 's main board . It operates , among others , three national newspapers , namely New Straits Times , Berita Harian and Harian Metro ; free-to-air television stations , namely TV3 , TV9 , ntv7 and 8TV ; and four radio stations , namely Fly FM , Hot FM , One FM and Kool FM . When contacted , Media Prima group managing director , Datuk Kamal Khalid , declined to comment when asked to confirm whether the company has been hit Attack.Ransom by ransomware . He urged The Star to get in touch with the company 's corporate communications department for comments , and efforts are ongoing to contact the department . The Edge Financial Daily report said it was not immediately known whether Media Prima 's data has been breached Attack.Databreach , and whether the media group would be suffering financial losses due to the ransomware attack Attack.Ransom . It quoted another source saying that Media Prima 's office e-mail has been affected but that the company has migrated the email to another system . The source reportedly added that Media Prima has decided not to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom .

Media Prima Berhad 's computer systems have been locked out by cyber attackers who are demanding Attack.Ransom millions of ringgit in ransom Attack.Ransom . The media company , which runs a stable of TV and radio channels , newspapers , advertising and digital media companies was hit by a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom last Thursday ( Nov 8 ) , The Edge Financial Daily reported . Ransomware is a type of malicious software ( malware ) designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid Attack.Ransom . The report , quoting a source , said the attackers are demanding Attack.Ransom 1,000 bitcoins to release access to the computer systems . This means that the attackers are demanding a ransom Attack.Ransom of RM26.42 million ( S $ 8.71 million ) . Media Prima is listed on Bursa Malaysia 's main board . It operates , among others , three national newspapers , namely New Straits Times , Berita Harian and Harian Metro ; free-to-air television stations , namely TV3 , TV9 , ntv7 and 8TV ; and four radio stations , namely Fly FM , Hot FM , One FM and Kool FM . When contacted , Media Prima group managing director , Datuk Kamal Khalid , declined to comment when asked to confirm whether the company has been hit Attack.Ransom by ransomware . He urged The Star to get in touch with the company 's corporate communications department for comments , and efforts are ongoing to contact the department . The Edge Financial Daily report said it was not immediately known whether Media Prima 's data has been breached Attack.Databreach , and whether the media group would be suffering financial losses due to the ransomware attack Attack.Ransom . It quoted another source saying that Media Prima 's office e-mail has been affected but that the company has migrated the email to another system . The source reportedly added that Media Prima has decided not to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom .