United Kingdom authorities arrested two suspects in relation to January 's hacking of Washington police surveillance cameras , International Business Times reported Friday . The cyberattack affected 123 of the city 's 187 network video recorders , city officials said , leaving the infected cameras unable to record between Jan 12 and Jan 15 . The National Crime Agency arrested a British man and Swedish woman , both 50 , in a South London neighborhood , according to the report . The incident attracted particular attention because it came just days before President Trump 's inauguration . The hack involved ransomware , a type of software that disables systems until demands Attack.Ransom are met . Washington 's chief technology officer said that no ransom was paid Attack.Ransom in this instance . Instead , the city repaired damage from the attack on its own . City officials say the attack posed no risk to the public or the security of the inauguration .

The average ransomware attack Attack.Ransom yielded $ 1,077 last year , new research shows , representing a 266 percent spike from a year earlier . The reason for the landmark year for hackers ? Many ransomware victims readily pay Attack.Ransom the price . The number of attacks , varieties of distinct malware and money lost ballooned as ransomware became one of the top tactics of attackers , according to new research from the security firm Symantec . Some of the most high-profile ransomware incidents Attack.Ransom of the last year include San Francisco ’ s Muni getting hit Attack.Ransom , Washington D.C. ’ s police department being breached Attack.Databreach just before inauguration and a Los Angeles college paying Attack.Ransom a $ 28,000 ransom Attack.Ransom . Hoping to turn the tide against the billion-dollar ransomware industry , last year the FBI urged businesses to alert authorities and not pay up Attack.Ransom . Instead , most keep attacks Attack.Ransom a secret , paying off Attack.Ransom hackers 70 percent of the time . That behavior only increases the sweet spot for demands Attack.Ransom , as criminals seek the highest possible ransom Attack.Ransom while trying to avoid the attention of law enforcement . Economists say hackers who apply more sophisticated pricing techniques “ could lead to dramatic increases in profits at relatively little costs . ” The highest demand Attack.Ransom seen in public during the last was $ 28,730 from MIRCOP ransomware . It ’ s not clear if anyone actually paid off Attack.Ransom those specific hackers . In private , however , higher ransoms Attack.Ransom are finding success when hackers successfully target the right companies . An IBM Security study from December 2016 found that over half of the businesses they surveyed said they had already paid Attack.Ransom over $ 10,000 in ransom Attack.Ransom while 20 percent said they ’ d paid Attack.Ransom over $ 40,000 . Globally , 34 percent of victims end up paying ransom Attack.Ransom . American victims , however , pay at a rate of 64 percent , according to Norton . “ That ’ s a phenomenal number , ” Symantec ’ s Kevin Haley told CyberScoop . “ I always compare it to direct mail where if you get a 1 percent rate you ’ re doing really good . These guys get a 34 percent return rate . Extortion really pays Attack.Ransom . ” The twist of the knife comes when only 47 percent of victims who pay the ransom Attack.Ransom actually recover any files . “ If so many people are willing to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom , there ’ s no reason for the price to come down , ” Haley said . “ In fact , it ’ s only going to go up . We may see that average go even higher until that price ceiling is discovered when so many people aren ’ t willing to pay that much . But we haven ’ t hit it yet . ”

And that approach probably works out just fine from a law enforcement organization ’ s perspective . However , from the viewpoint of a private citizen whose entire database has been held hostage by vicious hackers , not paying a ransom Attack.Ransom is hardly an option . According to the FBI ’ s own statistics , ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom are spreading like virus in the US alone , with a spike as alarming as $ 209 million in damages in the first three months of 2016 . When you look at it , the reasons behind the spread of ransomware are quite easy to understand . The malicious coding can be acquired by anyone with an internet connection for as little as a hundred dollars on the Deep Web , the psychological pressure over losing one ’ s important data almost always ends up in a successful heist and the current law enforcement system can and does very little to prevent the situation from going out of control . That , however , is not to say that the law enforcement isn ’ t concerned . In a news report released in April 2016 , the FBI expressed its direct concerns over the unchallenged growth of ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom and urged any victims to not give in to the demand for ransom Attack.Ransom unless all other options are exhausted . Unfortunately , however , as is the case with most ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom , the stakes of losing years worth of important data is always quite high and the ransom demanded Attack.Ransom usually very small , leading most victims to give in to the attackers ’ demands Attack.Ransom before even reaching out to law enforcement . For starters , though , let ’ s try and have a look at what ransomware is , and what differentiates it from other types of malicious coding . The most common form of ransomware is one that infiltrates your network , gains access Attack.Databreach to your data and encrypts them using advanced algorithms to prevent you from accessing your own files . A demand Attack.Ransom for an aggressive amount of money , generally in Bitcoin , is then demanded Attack.Ransom by the perpetrator in exchange for the key that decrypts said data that has been hijacked . There are , of course , several other types of ransomware , such as the kind that block access to the entire operating system or the kind that attaches itself to a partition of the computer ’ s hard drive . Most ransomware come with some sort of encryption key that is used to unlock the stolen data files once ransom is paid Attack.Ransom , though there is absolutely no guarantee that the perpetrator will keep their end of the bargain once money is transferred . The majority of ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom come with a set of identifying characteristics , such as the use of malicious coding that can spread throughout the network , the blocking of access to important data in the victim ’ s servers in a variety of creative ways , including the scrambling of file names and adding different extensions to prevent them from being accessed . Ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom also feature a time limit to add an element of psychological pressure against the victim , after which the data in concern is either stolen Attack.Databreach or deleted from the victim ’ s servers permanently . Attackers these days almost always ask for payment Attack.Ransom in Bitcoin , as the cryptocurrency is incredibly difficult to track as far as payments go . The concern over ransomware lies not in individual cases but the number of cases reported each year , which makes it the most popular cyber-infiltration scenario in current times . According to the Cyber Threat Alliance ( CTA ) , the damages caused by CryptoWall 3 , a particular type of ransomware , hit Attack.Ransom $ 325 million in 2015 alone . As per statistics produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation , in the first few months of 2016 , a single variant of ransomware infected as many as 100,000 computers each day . In the March of 2016 , the number of computers infected by ransomware technology hit the absolute upper ceiling for the year , reports Symantec . While the cases , when considered individually , may not amount to much , the number of incidents reported worldwide in any given year is clearly a matter of global concern .

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 .

Over 200 victims in Europe and beyond continue to suffer from a brand new ransomware attack demanding Bitcoin Attack.Ransom to release encrypted files . Known as Bad Rabbit , the ransomware of unknown origin demands Attack.Ransom 0.05 BTC ( $ 290 ) to unlock infected computers . Its progress focuses on Russia and Ukraine , with outbreaks also reported in Turkey and Germany , according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab . “ While the target is visiting a legitimate website , a malware dropper is being downloaded from the threat actor ’ s infrastructure , ” a report on the ransomware released Tuesday explains . “ No exploits were used , so the victim would have to manually execute the malware dropper , which pretends to be Attack.Phishing an Adobe Flash installer . We ’ ve detected a number of compromised websites , all of which were news or media websites. ” As of Thursday , it has become apparent those targets fall outside the news and media sphere , with Odessa Airport and the Kiev Metro ’ s payment system also seeing breakdowns . Bad Rabbit is just the latest cyberattack Attack.Ransom to hit Attack.Ransom the Russian and Ukrainian zone , with WannaCry and NotPetya all having left their mark over the past six months . The ransom demands Attack.Ransom from Bad Rabbit ’ s hackers are similar to those of WannaCry at around $ 300 per machine . Unlike NotPetya , however , there appears to be no attempt to wipe data from victims , whether or not they send the requisite Bitcoins Attack.Ransom . Kaspersky adds it is not yet known whether or not paying the ransomware amount Attack.Ransom results in full control being returned .

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 .

In the wake of a weekend cyber attack , ECMC officials say the hospital ’ s IT staff discovered the virus and shut down the hospital ’ s computer network , before it could infect their files . ECMC spokesman Peter Cutler said , State Police and the FBI are investigating . “ We do know that a virus was launched into our system and the good news , again , is that we reacted to it immediately. ” With the medical center ’ s computer network still offline , ECMC is conducting business the old fashioned way , on paper—no website , no email—and Cutler says they don ’ t believe patient files were compromised Attack.Databreach in any way . “ Through the assessments that we have been running , we have seen no indication that there has been a compromise Attack.Databreach of patient health information. ” Investigators would not say how hackers attacked ECMC ’ s computers , but authorities in the field of cyber security say , this attempted intrusion has all the hallmarks of ransomware . University at Buffalo cyber security expert Arun Vishwanath says ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom have grown exponentially in the last two years , and likens them to Internet extortion Attack.Ransom . “ They are very successful , and so that is why we are seeing an exponential growth in ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom . We are talking about somewhere between 5,000 attacks per day that are reported–let alone the ones that are not even reported. ” Vishwanath says ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom are big reward low risk ventures , since the hackers are usually from other countries , and rarely get caught . Unwitting victims download an infected attachment from an email and the virus spreads quickly . “ The moment you click on the malware , this malware basically locks down your computer , and all the files in it , and any file that is connected to any other computer that you are connected to . So this can spread through your network in minutes. ” The hacker then demands Attack.Ransom the target pay a ransom Attack.Ransom to get their files unencrypted , and in just about every ransomware attack Attack.Ransom , the hackers cover their tracks by demanding payment Attack.Ransom in bitcoin–a virtual currency that is hard , if not impossible to trace . Once the ransom is paid Attack.Ransom , the hackers send their victim an electronic key to unlock their encrypted files , but if the payment is not made within a certain time frame the hacked files are lost forever .

Disney boss Bob Iger has said the mass media giant is being targeted by hackers who are trying to extort money Attack.Ransom from the firm by threatening to release a film they claim to have stolen Attack.Databreach . The CEO of the entertainment behemoth told ABC employees of the stand-off at a town hall meeting in New York , multiple sources told The Hollywood Reporter . The hackers are said to have demanded Attack.Ransom a substantial payment Attack.Ransom in Bitcoin , and threatened to release five minutes of the unnamed film and then subsequent 20-minute chunks if their demands Attack.Ransom aren ’ t met . There are rumors circulating that the film in question could be upcoming blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Men Tell No Tales , although the hackers are running out of time if so as it ’ s due to open next Friday . The news calls to mind a similar incident last month when a hacker uploaded the upcoming series of Netflix prison drama Orange is the New Black to The Pirate Bay after the streaming giant refused to pay up Attack.Ransom . In that instance , Netflix claimed that “ a production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised ” , highlighting the need for organizations in the entertainment sector to revisit their cyber-defenses and those of their partners . Mark James , security specialist at Eset , argued that anything of high value will be a target for thieves , be it digital or physical . “ Disney has refused to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom and rightly so . If you ’ re going to download the film from an unofficial or dodgy source anyway then a month before or a month after is not going to make much of a difference , ” he added . `` The film industry has been plagued with piracy issues as early as the 1960s and this is n't going to change anytime soon . Paying the ransom Attack.Ransom or indeed any ransom Attack.Ransom is generally frowned upon for many reasons . Funding other criminal activity , rewarding the bad guys or funding future attacks are all good reasons to not pay as the chances are it ’ s going to get released anyway . ”

Files claiming to be the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie have leaked Attack.Databreach online after Disney refused to meet hackers ' demands Attack.Ransom . On 17 May , Softpedia 's Gabriela Vatu reported that two copies of Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Men Tell No Tales had appeared on the popular ( and somewhat appropriate ) BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay . `` According to the information unearthed thus far , the hackers managed to get access Attack.Databreach to the systems of Larson Studios in Hollywood , a company that handles additional dialogue recorded for movies . It seems that the copies they 've managed to get their hands on are in various stages of production and not exactly what you 'd expect from a full cinema-ready release . '' News of the extortion attempt first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter on 15 May when Bob Iger , CEO at Walt Disney , revealed the hackers had demanded Attack.Ransom that Disney pay Attack.Ransom a `` huge sum '' in Bitcoins to prevent them from leaking a then-undisclosed movie online . At the time , the attackers said they would release the film incrementally to netizens , first publishing clips lasting only a few minutes and slowly building up to 20-minute segments . Iger said Disney decided to not pay Attack.Ransom the attackers and was working with federal law enforcement to investigate the theft of one of its productions . It 's unclear who exactly perpetrated the leak Attack.Databreach - if indeed the files really are of the movie . Even so , a potential candidate is The Dark Overlord , a group of hackers who released the fifth season of Orange Is the New Black after Netflix refused to meet its ransom demands Attack.Ransom back in April 2017 . Around that time , the hacking gang , which has also extorted Attack.Ransom non-film entities in the past , tweeted out that it had stolen Attack.Databreach content from a number of other media companies . It did not name Walt Disney by name , though it did point to FOX , ABC , and others . Who is next on the list ? FOX , IFC , NAT GEO , and ABC . Oh , what fun we 're all going to have . We 're not playing any games anymore . While Disney and Netflix continue to work with the FBI in tracking down The Dark Overlord , someone has already removed the two copies of what claimed to be the Pirates of the Caribbean film from The Pirate Bay . The hackers could release the movies again . Or they might be focusing on their next target . While movie-goers might celebrate a leak of the movie , media companies like Walt Disney do n't want viewers gaining early access to their content . That 's why organizations should take the opportunity to conduct some security awareness training with their employees . This effort should include phishing Attack.Phishing simulations and reviewing the security readiness of companies along their supply chains . Article updated 19 May 2017 . None of the files made available as downloadable torrents have been confirmed to contain footage of the movie . For more discussion on the issue , make sure to listen to this recent episode of the `` Smashing Security '' podcast . Your browser does not support this audio element .

Hackers that tried to extort money Attack.Ransom from Disney by threatening to make public an upcoming movie ahead of its release date appear to have been bluffing , the firm ’ s boss has revealed . Chairman and CEO Bob Iger said the media giant had , to its knowledge , not been hacked . “ We had a threat of a hack Attack.Databreach of a movie being stolen Attack.Databreach . We decided to take it seriously but not react in the manner in which the person who was threatening us had required , ” he told Yahoo Finance . “ We don ’ t believe that it was real and nothing has happened. ” The hackers apparently demanded Attack.Ransom a large payment Attack.Ransom in Bitcoin , and threatened to release five minutes of the stolen film followed by subsequent 20-minute instalments if their demands Attack.Ransom weren ’ t met . Disney likely took the threat seriously given that a similar incident occurred last month when a hacker uploaded the upcoming series of Netflix prison drama Orange is the New Black to The Pirate Bay after the streaming giant refused to pay a ransom Attack.Ransom . In that case , a third-party production vendor used by the studios was to blame , after its security was compromised by the hacker . Iger acknowledged the elevation of cybersecurity to a “ front burner issue. ” “ Technology is an enabler to run our businesses more securely , whether that ’ s protecting our intellectual property or protecting our guests or employees around the world , ” he argued . Unfortunately , many boardrooms don ’ t share Iger ’ s enthusiasm for cybersecurity-related issues . Just 5 % of FTSE 100 companies claim to have a technology expert on the board , despite most of them ( 87 % ) identifying cybersecurity as a major risk to the firm , according to a recent Deloitte report . Yet cybersecurity is something the C-level need to get urgently up to speed with , as increasing numbers are targeted by whalers . Just this month , Barclays CEO Jes Staley was tricked Attack.Phishing into emailing someone pretending to be Attack.Phishing the bank ’ s chairman , John McFarlane .

Are you such a video game fanatic that you simply can ’ t wait to get your paws on sneak previews of upcoming hit titles ? If so , your fervour may be fuelling the criminal activities of an unnamed group of who have targeted a developer of highly popular video games . Best known for developing The Witcher series of role-playing video games , CD Projekt Red took to Twitter to announce that it had been approached by extortionists who claimed to have stolen Attack.Databreach files from the company , including “ documents connected to early designs for the upcoming game , Cyberpunk 2077. ” CD Projekt Red says it will not pay the ransom being demanded Attack.Ransom by the thieves , who are threatening to release the stolen files to the general public : “ We will not be giving in to the demands Attack.Ransom of the individual or individuals that have contacted us , which might eventually lead to the files being published online . The appropriate legal authorities will be informed about the situation. ” “ The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game . Still , if you ’ re looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077 , it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD PROJEKT RED. ” I applaud CD Projekt Red ’ s refusal to pay a ransom Attack.Ransom . Paying Attack.Ransom extortionists always runs the risk of encouraging blackmailers to strike again , putting not just your own company but others at further risk . No release date has yet been announced by the Polish game studio for Cyberpunk 2077 , which has been in development for years and is keenly anticipated by the game maker ’ s fans . For CD Projekt RED , the danger is not just whether assets belonging to the game leaking Attack.Databreach into the public domain mess up its marketing strategy . There is also the risk that the gaming community will be unimpressed with any sneak previews of early versions of the game stolen Attack.Databreach by the hackers , and puncture the hype machine . Recent months have seen a rise in attacks Attack.Ransom where hackers have threatened to release a company ’ s intellectual property onto the net unless a ransom is paid Attack.Ransom . A month ago , for instance , The Dark Overlord hacking group attempted to blackmail money Attack.Ransom out of Netflix , before deciding to leak as-yet unaired episodes of hit TV show “ Orange is the New Black. ” The same hacking group has previously published Attack.Databreach 180,000 medical records – including insurance and social security numbers , dates of birth , and payment information – after healthcare firms refused to give in to their demands Attack.Ransom . Most recently , a chain of cosmetic surgeries in Lithuania warned that hackers were threatening to release the personal details of clients , including photographs . Readers with longer memories may recall that in September 2003 , a German hacker leaked Attack.Databreach the source code of the game Half-Life 2 onto the internet , much to the delight of internet users who had become fed up with waiting for the long-awaited video game . It doesn ’ t matter that it ’ s not credit card data or passwords that are being stolen Attack.Databreach – theft is theft Attack.Databreach . Just because it ’ s a video game ’ s plans and designs that are being held for ransom Attack.Ransom by the hackers doesn ’ t make any difference . The threat is real – and could have a commercial impact on the game ’ s producer . CD Projekt Red should be applauded for being so transparent about what has happened , as it ’ s easy to imagine many firms would rather sweep bad news like this under the carpet . What we need now is for game fanatics to exercise some patience and self-control , and resist the urge to hunt out a game before the manufacturer is ready to release it officially themselves .

Are you such a video game fanatic that you simply can ’ t wait to get your paws on sneak previews of upcoming hit titles ? If so , your fervour may be fuelling the criminal activities of an unnamed group of who have targeted a developer of highly popular video games . Best known for developing The Witcher series of role-playing video games , CD Projekt Red took to Twitter to announce that it had been approached by extortionists who claimed to have stolen Attack.Databreach files from the company , including “ documents connected to early designs for the upcoming game , Cyberpunk 2077. ” CD Projekt Red says it will not pay the ransom being demanded Attack.Ransom by the thieves , who are threatening to release the stolen files to the general public : “ We will not be giving in to the demands Attack.Ransom of the individual or individuals that have contacted us , which might eventually lead to the files being published online . The appropriate legal authorities will be informed about the situation. ” “ The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game . Still , if you ’ re looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077 , it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD PROJEKT RED. ” I applaud CD Projekt Red ’ s refusal to pay a ransom Attack.Ransom . Paying Attack.Ransom extortionists always runs the risk of encouraging blackmailers to strike again , putting not just your own company but others at further risk . No release date has yet been announced by the Polish game studio for Cyberpunk 2077 , which has been in development for years and is keenly anticipated by the game maker ’ s fans . For CD Projekt RED , the danger is not just whether assets belonging to the game leaking Attack.Databreach into the public domain mess up its marketing strategy . There is also the risk that the gaming community will be unimpressed with any sneak previews of early versions of the game stolen Attack.Databreach by the hackers , and puncture the hype machine . Recent months have seen a rise in attacks Attack.Ransom where hackers have threatened to release a company ’ s intellectual property onto the net unless a ransom is paid Attack.Ransom . A month ago , for instance , The Dark Overlord hacking group attempted to blackmail money Attack.Ransom out of Netflix , before deciding to leak as-yet unaired episodes of hit TV show “ Orange is the New Black. ” The same hacking group has previously published Attack.Databreach 180,000 medical records – including insurance and social security numbers , dates of birth , and payment information – after healthcare firms refused to give in to their demands Attack.Ransom . Most recently , a chain of cosmetic surgeries in Lithuania warned that hackers were threatening to release the personal details of clients , including photographs . Readers with longer memories may recall that in September 2003 , a German hacker leaked Attack.Databreach the source code of the game Half-Life 2 onto the internet , much to the delight of internet users who had become fed up with waiting for the long-awaited video game . It doesn ’ t matter that it ’ s not credit card data or passwords that are being stolen Attack.Databreach – theft is theft Attack.Databreach . Just because it ’ s a video game ’ s plans and designs that are being held for ransom Attack.Ransom by the hackers doesn ’ t make any difference . The threat is real – and could have a commercial impact on the game ’ s producer . CD Projekt Red should be applauded for being so transparent about what has happened , as it ’ s easy to imagine many firms would rather sweep bad news like this under the carpet . What we need now is for game fanatics to exercise some patience and self-control , and resist the urge to hunt out a game before the manufacturer is ready to release it officially themselves .

A newly discovered threat aims to steal Attack.Databreach Netflix user credentials and hold them hostage , according to researchers at Trend Micro . Netflix has 93 million subscribers in more than 190 countries . It 's a popular app , but many people are n't willing to pay the monthly subscription fee . They 'll try to bypass the cost and watch content for free - and cybercriminals are now taking advantage of them . This newly detected ransomware , RANSOM_NETIX.A , aims to trick Attack.Phishing Windows PC users with a login generator typically used for software and account membership piracy . Victims click a `` Generate Login '' button to kick-start the encryption process . The ransomware uses fake login prompts as a distraction while it encrypts 39 file types under the C : \Users directory . The program then demands Attack.Ransom $ 100 in Bitcoin from victims . While it targets Windows users , it 's worth noting the ransomware destroys itself on systems not running Windows 7 or Windows 10 . Netflix , with its massive user base , presents a tempting opportunity for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities , infect systems to steal Attack.Databreach user data , and monetize data on the dark Web . Stolen credentials can be used to bargain among criminals or trick Attack.Phishing victims into installing malware , which can generate profit . `` We regularly see threat actors utilize popular apps or services as a lure Attack.Phishing to get victims to infect themselves , '' explains Jon Clay , global director of threat communications at Trend Micro . `` Also , by using imagery that is similar to the real vendor 's imagery , [ criminals ] trick Attack.Phishing the victim into thinking it 's real . '' Clay says this discovery marks a continuation of 2016 ransomware trends , which included the creation of new tactics to generate more victims . After seeing nearly 750 % growth in new ransomware families in 2016 , Trend Micro predicted 25 % growth in new families for 2017 . The Netflix scam carries implications for how ransomware will evolve later in the year . `` We will likely see other popular vendors targeted with their brands , especially if the actors behind [ the Netflix scam ] find success , '' he continues . `` They will use this tactic again with other vendors . '' This is a wake-up call for potential victims to protect their accounts . Best practices include regularly updating account credentials , employing two-factor authentication , limiting downloads to official sources , and being wary of illegitimate emails . Businesses should educate their employees on how ransomware threats work , and how using legitimate brands in social engineering attacks can trick Attack.Phishing victims into making dangerous decisions . Employees should be aware that trying to obtain a free Netflix account is `` bogus , '' says Clay , and should not be acted upon . If a deal seems too good to be true , it typically is

One tried-and-true technique continues to be hiding malware inside fake versions of popular files , then distributing Attack.Phishing those fake versions via app stores . Doing the same via peer-to-peer BitTorrent networks has also long been popular . But as with so many supposedly free versions of paid-for applications , users may get more than they bargained for . To wit , last week researchers at the security firm ESET spotted new ransomware - Filecoder.E - circulating via BitTorrent , disguised as Attack.Phishing a `` patcher '' that purports to allow Mac users to crack such applications as Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Microsoft Office 2016 . As Toronto-based security researcher Cheryl Biswas notes in a blog post : `` For those who torrent , be careful . ESET says the ransomware can also encrypt any Time Machine backups on network-connected volumes that are mounted at the time of the attack Attack.Ransom . If the ransomware infects a system , it demands Attack.Ransom 0.25 bitcoins - currently worth about $ 300 - for a decryption key . But ESET security researcher Marc-Etienne M.L Éveillé , in a blog post , says the application is so poorly coded that there 's no way that a victim could ever obtain a decryption key . So far , ESET reports that the single bitcoin wallet tied to the ransomware has received no payments . `` There is one big problem with this ransomware : It does n't have any code to communicate with any C & C ; server , '' says Éveillé , referring to a command-and-control server that might have been used to remotely control the infected endpoint . `` This means that there is no way the key that was used to encrypt the files can be sent to the malware operators . This also means that there is no way for them to provide a way to decrypt a victim 's files . '' The longstanding ransomware-defense advice , of course , is to never pay ransoms Attack.Ransom , because this directly funds cybercrime groups ' ongoing research and development . Instead , stay prepared : Keep complete , disconnected backups of all systems , and periodically test that they can be restored , and thus never have to consider paying a ransom Attack.Ransom . `` We advise that victims never pay the ransom Attack.Ransom when hit by ransomware , '' Éveillé says . In other ransomware news , new ransomware known as Trump Locker - not to be confused with Trumpcryption - turns out to be a lightly repackaged version of VenusLocker ransomware , according to Lawrence Abrams of the security analysis site Bleeping Computer , as well as the researchers known as MalwareHunter Team . `` Unfortunately , you are hacked , '' the start of the malware's ransom demand Attack.Ransom reportedly reads . VenusLocker first appeared in October 2016 ; it got a refresh two months later . The researchers do n't know if the group distributing Trump Locker is the same group that distributed VenusLocker , or if another group of attackers reverse-engineered the code . But they say that functionally , the two pieces of malware appear to be virtually identical , Bleeping Computer reports . For example , both Trump Locker and VenusLocker will encrypt some files types in full , while only encrypting the first 1024 bytes of other file types , including PDF , XLS , DOCX , and MP3 file formats . Fully encrypted files have `` .TheTrumpLockerf '' appended to their filename , while partially encrypted files get a `` .TheTrumpLockerp '' extension added , the researchers say . Finally , ransomware gangs ' use of customer service portals - to help and encourage victims to pay their ransoms Attack.Ransom - continues , says Mikko Hypponen , chief research officer of Finnish security firm F-Secure . One chief function of this support appears to be to help victims who do n't know their Windows from their ASP to find a way to remit bitcoins Attack.Ransom to attackers , according to research into crypto-ransomware called Spora and its related customer-support operation , conducted by F-Secure 's Sean Sullivan .

The malware asks for Attack.Ransom 222 Bitcoin but will not honor promises to decrypt files after payment is made Attack.Ransom . The cost of ransomware reached close to $ 1 billion in 2016 , and it 's not hard to see why . The malware family , which targets everything from Windows to Mac machines , executes procedures to encrypt files and disks before demanding a ransom payment Attack.Ransom in return for keys to decrypt and unlock compromised machines . However , it is not only the general public which is being targeted with everything from hospitals to schools and businesses now in the firing line . As the prospect of losing valuable content on computer systems or facing widespread disruption to business operations is often too much to bear , many will simply give up and give in , paying the fee and unfortunately contributing to the cybercriminal 's operations . However , paying up Attack.Ransom does not guarantee that victims will get their files back , no matter how low or high the payment demand Attack.Ransom . This week , ESET researchers discovered that a Linux variant of KillDisk , linked to attacks against core infrastructure system in Ukraine in 2015 , is now being used against fresh Ukrainian financial targets . The ransomware demands Attack.Ransom a huge amount of money , but there is no underwritten protocol for decryption keys to be released once payment is made Attack.Ransom . Distributed through phishing campaigns Attack.Phishing targeting both Windows and Linux , once downloaded , the ransomware throws up a holding page referring to the Mr . Robot television show while files are being encrypted , the research team said in a blog post . Unsurprisingly , no-one has paid up yet , nor should they , ever . `` This new variant renders Linux machines unbootable , after encrypting files and requesting a large ransom Attack.Ransom , '' ESET says . `` But even if victims do reach deep into their pockets , the probability that the attackers will decrypt the files is small . '' Files are encrypted using Triple-DES applied to 4096-byte file blocks and each file is encrypted using different sets of 64-bit encryption keys . However , the ransomware does not store encryption keys either locally or through a command-and-control ( C & C ) server , which means that affected systems after reboot are unbootable , and paying the ransom Attack.Ransom is pointless . `` It is important to note -- that paying the ransom demanded Attack.Ransom for the recovery of encrypted files is a waste of time and money , '' the team said . `` Let us emphasize that -- the cyber criminals behind this KillDisk variant can not supply their victims with the decryption keys to recover their files , despite those victims paying Attack.Ransom the extremely large sum demanded Attack.Ransom by this ransomware . '' There is a weakness in the encryption used by the ransomware , which makes recovery possible -- at least when it comes to Linux infections . Earlier this week , researchers at Check Point revealed the latest exploits of the GoldenEye ransomware , a strain of malware which is targeting German HR companies . The malware is contained in phishing emails which appear to be from job applicants , and once downloaded and installed , demands Attack.Ransom $ 1000 in Bitcoin to unlock infected systems