WannaCry only demanded Attack.Ransom $ 300 from each victim . These hackers extorted Attack.Ransom $ 1 million from one South Korean company . Hackers appear to have pulled off Attack.Ransom a $ 1 million heist with ransomware in South Korea . The ransomware attacked Attack.Ransom more than 153 Linux servers that South Korean web provider Nayana hosted , locking up more than 3,400 websites on June 10 . In Nayana 's first announcement a few days later , it said the hackers demanded Attack.Ransom 550 bitcoins to free up all the servers -- about $ 1.62 million . Four days later , Nayana said it 'd negotiated with the attackers and got the payment reduced Attack.Ransom to 397 bitcoins , or about $ 1 million . This is the single largest-known payout for a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom , and it was an attack Attack.Ransom on one company . For comparison , the WannaCry ransomware attacked Attack.Ransom 200,000 computers across 150 countries , and has only pooled $ 127,142 in bitcoins since it surfaced . Ransomware demands Attack.Ransom have risen rapidly over the past year , tripling in price from 2015 to 2016 . But even then , the highest cost of a single ransomware attack Attack.Ransom was $ 28,730 . Nayana agreed to pay Attack.Ransom the ransomware in three installments , and said Saturday it 's already paid Attack.Ransom two-thirds of the $ 1 million demand Attack.Ransom . `` It is very frustrating and difficult , but I am really doing my best and I will do my best to make sure all servers are normalized , '' a Nayana administrator said , according to a Google translation of the blog post . The company is expected to make the final payment Attack.Ransom once all the servers from the first and second payouts Attack.Ransom have been restored . Trend Micro , a cybersecurity research firm , identified the ransomware as Erebus , which targets Linux servers for attacks . It first surfaced in September through web ads , and popped up again in February . `` It 's worth noting that this ransomware is limited in terms of coverage , and is , in fact , heavily concentrated in South Korea , '' Trend Micro researchers said Monday in a blog post . Paying ransomware Attack.Ransom is at the victim 's discretion , but nearly all organizations , including government agencies and security researchers , advise against it .

Atlanta mayor Keisha Bottoms said on Thursday , March 22 , that hackers attacked Attack.Ransom the city ’ s network system and encrypted data . The details are somewhat slim for now , but hackers reportedly used the SamSam ransomware and demand Attack.Ransom around $ 51,000 in Bitcoin to unlock the city ’ s seized computers . Atlanta is currently working with the Department of Homeland Security , the FBI , Microsoft , and Cisco cybersecurity officials to determine the scope of the damage and regain control of the data held hostage . “ Our Atlanta Information Management team is working diligently with support from Microsoft to resolve the issue , ” the city ’ s official Twitter account states . “ We are confident that our team of technology professionals will be able to restore applications soon . Our city website , Atlantaga.gov , remains accessible and we will provide updates as we receive them. ” As of Thursday afternoon , the city said it faced outages on various “ internal and customer facing applications , ” such as means for accessing court-related information and paying bills . But the city itself isn ’ t exactly under siege : Airport , public safety , and water operations remain unaffected by the attack , and the city payroll wasn ’ t touched . The only bone Atlanta is throwing the public is that the attack affects “ various city systems. ” According to Atlanta ’ s newly appointed chief operating officer , Richard Cox , Atlanta Information Management officials were made aware of problems with internal and customer-facing applications at 5:40 a.m. Thursday . At the time , he acknowledged that the city fell prey to ransomware , but given the investigation is still ongoing , he couldn ’ t provide the extent of the damage . “ The ongoing investigation will determine whether personal information , financial , or employee data has been compromised Attack.Databreach , ” he said during a press briefing . “ As a precaution , we are asking that all employees take the appropriate measures to ensure their data is not compromised Attack.Databreach . The city advises employees to monitor and protect personal information and in the coming days we will offer employees additional resources if needed. ” What the city didn ’ t officially disclose was the ransomware note discovered in the investigation . A screenshot reveals the hackers ’ demands Attack.Ransom : 0.8 Bitcoins for each seized computer , or six bitcoins to unlock all computers held hostage , equaling to around $ 51,000 in real cash . Once Atlanta sends the Bitcoins to a digital wallet , the city is to leave a message containing the host name on a specific website . The hackers will then provide decryption software to release the computers from captivity . The SamSam malware doesn ’ t take the typical route of installing itself on computers when unsuspecting owners click a link within an email . Instead , hackers find Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability unpatched vulnerabilities in network servers and manually unleash SamSam to seize key data systems and cause maximum damage to the company ’ s infrastructure . SamSam is one of many in a family of ransomware targeting government and healthcare organizations . It was first observed in 2015 and encrypts various file types using the Advanced Encryption Standard ( aka Rijndael ) . It then encrypts that key with RSA 2048-bit encryption to make the files utterly unrecoverable . As of Friday morning , Atlanta ’ s main website and its affiliated portals remained unaffected by the ransomware attack Attack.Ransom .

People are still falling for fake sites pretending to be Attack.Phishing Facebook , research from Kaspersky Labs suggests . In 2018 thus far , the Russian security company blocked “ 3.7 million attempts to visit fraudulent social network pages ” . Notably , 58.7 % of these attacks were attempting to direct users to fake FB pages . That ’ s a pretty substantial slice of the pie , considering that VKontakte — Russia ’ s version of Facebook — was responsible for 20.8 % , and LinkedIn 12.9 % . “ At the beginning of the year , Facebook was the most popular social networking brand for fraudsters to abuse , and Facebook pages were frequently faked Attack.Phishing by cybercriminals to try and steal Attack.Databreach personal data via phishing attacks , ” the company states in a press release . The main targets for these attacks include “ global internet portals and the financial sector , including banks , payment services and online stores , ” Kaspersky adds . The firm also suggests that this is nothing new . “ Last year Facebook was one of the top three most exploited company names . The schemes are numerous , but fairly standard : the user is asked to ‘ verify ’ an account or lured Attack.Phishing into signing into a phishing site on the promise of interesting content , ” it reveals . The company also noted that South America suffered the most phishing attacks Attack.Phishing in 2018 thus far . “ Brazil was the country with the largest share of users attacked Attack.Phishing by phishers in the first quarter of 2018 ( 19 % ) , ” it revealed . It was followed by Argentina , Venezuela , and Albania — all at 13 % .

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 .

Buzz60 A view of the Kremlin in Moscow on Jan. 6 , 2017 . Russia 's alleged use of computer hacking to interfere with the U.S. presidential election fits a pattern of similar incidents across Europe for at least a decade . Cyberattacks in Ukraine , Bulgaria , Estonia , Germany , France and Austria that investigators attributed to suspected Russian hackers appeared aimed at influencing election results , sowing discord and undermining faith in public institutions that included government agencies , the media and elected officials . Those investigations bolster U.S. intelligence findings of Russian meddling to help elect Donald Trump , a conclusion the president-elect has disputed — although he conceded Friday after a private intelligence briefing that Russia was among the possible hacking culprits . “ They ’ ve been very good at using the West ’ s weaknesses against itself , the open Internet to hack , the free media to sow discord , and to cause people to question the underpinnings of the systems under which they live , ” said Hannah Thoburn , a research fellow at the Hudson Institute , a Washington think tank . U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper told a Senate committee Thursday that Russian intelligence hackers , masquerading as third parties , have conducted attacks abroad that targeted critical infrastructure networks . “ Russia also has used cyber tactics and techniques to seek to influence public opinion across Europe and Eurasia , ” Clapper said . A declassified intelligence report on the Russian hacking released Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering the effort to help elect Trump . It warned that Russia would use lessons learned from the effort to disrupt elections of U.S. allies . USA TODAY Intel chiefs : We 're certain that Russia tried to influence U.S. election In 2007 , Putin told the Munich Security Conference that the United States ’ effort to spread its form of democracy was an insidious threat to Russia and other nations and that his government would push back . Russian sabotage of Western computer systems started that same year . In 2007 , Estonia accused hackers using Russian IP addresses of a wide-scale denial of service attack that shut down the Internet in the former Soviet republic and one of NATO ’ s newest members . According to The Guardian newspaper , the attacks came in waves that coincided with riots on May 3 , 2007 , over the statue , whose removal drew objections from Russia and Russian-speaking Estonians , and on May 8 and 9 , when Russia celebrated its victory over Nazi Germany . They blamed the attacks on a pro-Russia group called CyberBerkut . Hudson analyst Thoburn , who was working as an election observer in Ukraine at the time , said the Ukrainians were able to get around it by deleting their entire system and restoring it from a backup that was not contaminated . Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of being behind a power grid attack in December 2015 that cut power to 80,000 in western Ukraine . In overt actions against Ukraine , Russia seized the province of Crimea in 2014 and helped armed separatists launch a rebellion in eastern Ukraine . German intelligence in 2015 accused Russia of hacking Attack.Databreach at least 15 computers belonging to members of Germany ’ s lower house of parliament , the Bundestag , and stealing data Attack.Databreach . Germany ’ s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( BfV ) said the attack Attack.Databreach was conducted by a group called Sofacy , which “ is being steered by the Russian state . '' BfV chief Hans-Georg Maassen told Reuters in November that Moscow has tried to manipulate the media and public opinion through various means , including planting false stories . One in 2015 by Russian media was about a German-Russian girl kidnapped and raped by migrants in Berlin . German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she could not rule out Russian interference in Germany 's 2017 federal election through Internet attacks and disinformation campaigns . The country 's Central Election Commission had been hacked during a referendum and local elections in 2015 that was almost certainly linked to Russia and a group that had hacked NATO headquarters in Brussels in 2013 , then-President Rosen Plevneliev told the BBC in November . `` The same organization that has attacked Attack.Databreach the ( German Parliament ) — stealing Attack.Databreach all the emails of German members of Parliament — the same institution that has attacked Attack.Databreach NATO headquarters , and that is the same even that has tried to influence American elections lately and so in a very high probability you could point east from us ” ( to Moscow ) , Plevneliev said . A pro-Russian political novice was elected in November to replace Plevneliev . The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe , whose tasks include monitoring elections across Europe and the conflict in eastern Ukraine , was attacked in “ a major information security incident ” in November , spokeswoman Mersiha Causevic Podzic said . The incident “ compromised the confidentiality ” of the organization ’ s IT networks , Podzic said . The French daily Le Monde , which first reported the incident , cited a Western intelligence agency attributing the attack to the Russia-linked group APT28 , aka Fancy Bear , and Sofacy . Russia , a member of the OSCE , has objected to the group ’ s criticism of Russian-backed forces battling the Ukrainian government in eastern Ukraine . Russian hackers posing as the “ Cyber Caliphate ” were suspected of attacking France ’ s TV5Monde television channel in 2014 , causing extensive damage to the company ’ s computer systems , FireEye , a cyber security firm that examined the attack , told BuzzFeed . The attack involved posting of Islamic State propaganda , but appeared to use the same servers and have other similarities with Russian-linked APT28 , the group that is a suspect in attacks on the Democratic National Committee , the OSCE and several other European countries . “ APT28 focuses on collecting intelligence that would be most useful to a government , ” FireEye said . “ Specifically , since at least 2007 , APT28 has been targeting privileged information related to governments , militaries and security organizations that would likely benefit the Russian government ” . The security chief of France 's ruling Socialist Party recently warned that the country 's presidential election this spring is at risk of being hacked . Hackers in 2014 attacked Attack.Databreach the Warsaw Stock Exchange and at least 36 other Polish sites , stealing data Attack.Databreach and posting graphic images from the Holocaust . The group that claimed responsibility , CyberBerkut , is the same Russian-linked group that attacked Ukrainian sites . The group , posing as Islamic radicals , stole Attack.Databreach data and released Attack.Databreach dozens of client log-in data , causing mayhem for the exchange , according to Bloomberg News . Dan Wallach , a computer scientist at Rice University who testified about election computer security on Capitol Hill in September , said definitive proof of who conducted an attack would reveal methods and sources who would be lost or killed if exposed . “ You ’ re never going to have definitive attribution , ” Wallach said in an interview . “ The proof is some crazy top secret thing and not for public dissemination ” .

In 2015 , the FBI shuttered malware marketplace Darkode , and then at the end of last year a small group of hackers launched their own eponymous copycat version . Almost immediately , however , other hackers attacked Attack.Databreach that new site , and stole Attack.Databreach user account information . `` It 's a shit show on what happened , '' a Darkode staff member who used the handle Bullets told Motherboard . Hackers managed to steal Attack.Databreach a database of Darkode 's users , including usernames and hashed passwords . Paid breach notification site LeakBase provided Motherboard with a copy of the data . The database included this reporter 's Darkode account , used to briefly visit the site when it launched . The data also includes users ' email addresses and IP addresses ; something that might be particularly worrying if those who signed up were involved in any illegal activity—it probably does n't help to have an IP address linked to your identity floating around the internet . It 's fucked up , '' one of the hackers behind the breach , who used the moniker FuckInterpol , told Motherboard . `` Dear fake darkode wannabes , you 're [ sic ] forum has been owned , and your admins have terrible opsec , '' one message posted to the forum read . The hackers also deleted other threads on the site . Bullets , the staff member , claimed the hackers got in , at least in part , because he reused a password from another previously hacked site . `` The only reason I joined in the first place was just to see what the hell was actually going on . I used a common password I use when I signed up thinking nothing of it seeing I never thought I 'd stay on the site & if anyone got access to it , it would n't be a big deal , '' Bullets said