S amSam ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom are on the rise and operators a re demanding Attack.Ransom more than ever from their victims , researchers have warned . Ransomware , a kind of malware which locks infected systems , encrypts files and d emands a payment Attack.Ransom in return for decryption , can be debilitating for businesses . Without access to core networks and systems , many firms and organizations w ill pay up Attack.Ransom rather than suffer through disruption which can be far more costly in the long run . Consumers also face the same issue , albeit on a personal scale , and while security experts caution that paying up only funds this kind of cybercrime , losing access to your files , photos , and media can be devastating . When p ayment demands Attack.Ransom are a few hundred dollars or so , victims may be more inclined to p ay the fee. Attack.Ransom However , the SamSam ransomware i s now demanding Attack.Ransom far more than the average person would be able to raise . Written in C # , SamSam is usually installed after an unpatched , known server vulnerability i s exploited. Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability It is believed the threat actors behind the ransomware are relatively new to e xtortion, Attack.Ransom having spent the last few years gradually scaling up t heir demands. Attack.Ransom The ransomware caught the attention of the FBI last year , resulting in two alerts being issued . `` MSIL or Samas ( SAMSAM ) was used to compromise the networks of multiple US victims , including 2016 attacks on healthcare facilities that were running outdated versions of the JBoss content management application , '' the FBI says . `` SAMSAM exploits vulnerable Java-based Web servers . SAMSAM uses open-source tools to identify and compile a list of hosts reporting to the victim 's active directory . '' `` The actors then use psexec.exe to distribute the malware to each host on the network and encrypt most of the files on the system , '' the FBI added . `` The actors c harge Attack.Ransom varying amounts in Bitcoin to provide the decryption keys to the victim . '' According to AlientVault researchers , the ransomware is more akin to a targeted attack than opportunistic ransomware . After being installed on one machine , the ransomware propagates and spreads to any others in the network . SamSam attacks can result in web shell deployment , batch script usage for running the malware over multiple machines , remote access , and tunneling . The ransomware has recently been updated , and will now d emand Attack.Ransom different p ayments Attack.Ransom depending on the scope of infection . If one machine has been infected , 1.7 Bitcoin ( BTC ) , roughly $ 4,600 , i s demanded. Attack.Ransom If more machines are locked by the ransomware , half will be decrypted for 6 BTC ( $ 16,400 ) , and for all of them , a total of 12 BTC , or $ 32,800 , i s demanded. Attack.Ransom Last week 's a ttacks Attack.Ransom appear to have been successful , with $ 33,000 b eing paid Attack.Ransom to a Bitcoin wallet associated with SamSam . While SamSam is not the most sophisticated kind of ransomware out there , the successful exploit of victims reminds us that this malware is out in the wild . Like so many other kinds of ransomware , however , keeping systems patched and up-to-date can prevent infection . An NYC hospital w as forced Attack.Ransom to either p ay Attack.Ransom $ 44,000 to SamSam operators or lose access to their systems after a successful infection . However , the organization refused to capitulate to the hacker 's d emands Attack.Ransom and instead endured a month of disruption before the hospital 's systems were restored . Another ransomware variant which has hit the headlines is WannaCry . After striking down hospitals and businesses across the globe , the Windows-based malware is yet to finish its rampage , with an estimated 300,000 victims worldwide .

The engineering firm refused to meet the hackers ’ d emands Attack.Ransom and the Daily Echo understands it lost access to vital data including personal information about its staff , who number around 100 . Businesses have been warned that such ‘ ransomware’ attacks Attack.Ransom are on the rise and that companies need to train all staff to be vigilant . Police said an East Dorset company – which the Echo is not naming – had reported on June 1 that it was the victim of computer fraud . “ It was reported that their computer was hacked and a demand was made Attack.Ransom for £120,000 , ” a Dorset Police spokeswoman said . “ The victim was referred to Action Fraud to report. ” Ian Girling , chief executive of Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry , said : “ Cyber crime is on the increase and all companies are vulnerable to attack . “ What ’ s really important is that staff are trained because it ’ s quite often staff opening emails and dealing with stuff . Responsibility doesn ’ t just lie with IT departments . All staff need to be aware of the potential threat to the business . “ There are lots of good companies in Dorset to help businesses with this. ” The incident echoes t he WannaCry ransomware attack Attack.Ransom which infected an estimated 200,000 computers globally last year , including up to 70,000 in the NHS . Matt Horan , security director of C3IA Solutions in Poole – one of the first companies to be certified by the government ’ s National Cyber Security Centre – said : “ You s hould never pay a ransom Attack.Ransom because there is no guarantee you will get your data back . During an attack the data doesn ’ t go anywhere , it is just encrypted and you need a decryption key or algorithm to unlock it and get it back . “ If you p ay Attack.Ransom a criminal to return your data there is a good chance that he or she will take the money and not decrypt the data – or even a sk for more money. Attack.Ransom “ It ’ s important to back up all data and to ensure it ’ s backed up without the virus or ransomware in it . Therefore all backups should be virus checked prior to storage off-site. “ You do not want to clean your system of the malware only to re-introduce the same problem from your back-up . It ’ s also important to regularly check the back-up to ensure data can be recovered from it. ” General Sir Chris Deverell , commander of the UK ’ s Joint Forces Command , warned yesterday of cyber threats from abroad , which could target infrastructure such as power stations and air traffic control . “ We must make sure our cyber security is constantly improving , ” he said . “ It ’ s a very important thing and every sector of society is very focused on it . ”

CD Projekt Red , the Polish developer best known for its work on The Witcher series , released a short statement on its twitter feed today claiming that early work from its next title , Cyberpunk 2077 , has been compromised . The statement suggests that the individual or individuals in question are holding the developer r ansom Attack.Ransom for an undisclosed figure , threatening to release the early game files out into the public if their d emands Attack.Ransom are not met . CD Projekt Red has made it clear that it will not meet the hacker ( s ) d emands, Attack.Ransom and that `` the appropriate legal authorities will be informed about the situation '' . Motherboard reached out for a comment from the developer , which said : `` This is real . The tweet is all we have to say . '' However , it 's hard not to remain skeptical still , since E3—the annual industry event where many developers choose to first reveal their games—is just around the corner , and revealing a game called Cyberpunk 2077 via some kind of elaborate , fake hack , would be a fitting stunt . For what it 's worth , we have not seen any game assets floating around pastebin or in the online circles where stuff like this is usually dumped . Whether it was planning to or not for E3 , this means that we are likely to see content for Cyberpunk 2077 arrive in the near future , though CD Projekt Red has made it clear that anything released from the hackers is not `` representative of the current vision of the game . '' Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world sci-fi RPG and , announced way back in 2012 , but does n't have a release date at this point . Anticipation is high coming off the back of The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt 's critical and commercial success , though . This is not the first time a games developer has run into this type of situation . Back in 2003 , Axel Gembe managed to hack Valve 's network , and got his hands on the source code for Half-Life 2 more than a year ahead of its release date . Though in that instance , Axel claimed to have been a genuine fan and said that Valve was his `` favourite developer '' —he even emailed Valve 's co-founder Gabe Newell to apologize and hoped he could get a job out of it ( spoiler : he did n't ) . There was also George `` Geohot '' Hotz , the man who hacked the PlayStation 3—and was subsequently sued by Sony for it . No doubt everyone will be keeping an eye on Reddit and NeoGAF over the following days .