, cyber fraudsters encrypted data belonging to a Dadar-based chartered accountant and demanded moneyAttack.Ransomto remove the block on the data on Monday . While the incidentAttack.Ransomtook place on Monday , the complainant , realised that his data has been blocked on Tuesday . “ A case of ransomware was reported , following which , an FIR has been registered at the Bhoiwada police station , ” said Deputy Commissioner of Police ( Zone 4 ) N Ambika . While the FIR was lodged on Thursday , no arrest has been made in the case yet . Police said the incidentAttack.Ransomtook place on Monday at the complainant ’ s office near Framroz court in Dadar . Around 2.15 pm , a message flashed on the complainant ’ s computer screen saying , “ You have to payAttack.Ransomfor decryption in bitcoins . The price depends on how fast you write to us . After payment , we will send you the decryption key , which will decrypt all your files. ” The message also had an email address , on which he was to write to the fraudsters . Around 7 pm , when the complainant tried to use a computer for some work , he could not access the data . When he tried other computers , he faced the same problem . He also found that some data and software had been deleted . Suspecting that a computer virus may be behind this , he copied the other files still available from the computer . The complainant then left for the day and asked an employee from the information technology department to look into the matter . The employee later told him that the data had not been deleted but encrypted by fraudsters . On Sunday , the MGM hospital in Navi Mumbai was attackedAttack.Ransomby a ransomware . Its data was locked out and the fraudsters demanded paymentAttack.Ransomin bitcoins .
West Haven officials said Thursday they paid the moneyAttack.Ransomto anonymous attackers through the digital currency Bitcoin . A Connecticut city has paidAttack.RansomUSD 2,000 to restore access to its computer system after a ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. West Haven officials said Thursday they paid the moneyAttack.Ransomto anonymous attackers through the digital currency bitcoin to unlock 23 servers and restore access to city data . The attackAttack.Ransomdisabled servers early Tuesday morning , and city officials say it was contained by 5:30 PM Wednesday . City attorney Lee Tiernan says officials initially did n't want to pay the ransomAttack.Ransom, but research showed it was the best course of action . The city says there 's no reason to believe data was compromisedAttack.Databreach. Employee pay was not affected . The US Department of Homeland Security says the attack came from outside the US . An investigation is ongoing .
Wasaga Beach has paidAttack.Ransompart of the ransomAttack.Ransomto hackers who took over the town 's computer system earlier this month . The computer ransomware attackAttack.Ransomstarted Sunday , April 29th . Staff discovered they could n't access town data when the arrived on Monday . CAO George Vadeboncoeur says some of the data has been retrieved , but he 's not saying how much money the town has had to payAttack.Ransomthe hackers . He says the town does n't actually know who the ransomware virus attackers are . He does say they appear to be in a time zone six hours different from ours , and English is not their first language . Vadeboncoeur says town council will get a report on the ransom paidAttack.Ransomat a meeting once the situation is resolved . He says he does n't know yet when that will be , but he says some of the town 's data has now been retrieved .
PGA of America computers were infected this week with a strain of malicious software that locked down critical files and demandedAttack.Ransomcryptocurrency for their return . Officials discovered on Tuesday that servers had been targeted in a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomthat blocked them from obtaining access to material relating to major golf tournaments , including this week ’ s PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club . Some signage had been in development for over a year and could not be reproduced quickly , Golfweek reported . The extortion threatAttack.Ransomwas clear : Transfer bitcoin to the hackers or lose the files forever . “ Your network has been penetrated . All files on each host in the network have been encrypted with a strong algorythm ( sic ) , ” a ransom read . “ Backups were either encrypted or deleted or backup disks were formatted. ” The note claimed shutting down the system may damage files . The notice included a bitcoin wallet number—where funds could be sent—and a warning that there was no way to get access to the files without a decryption key . The hackers that said they would prove their “ honest intentions ” to the PGA of America by unlocking two files free-of-charge . A source who asked not to be named told Golfweek that officials had no intention of paying the ransom demandAttack.Ransom—following the advice of most law enforcement officials and cybersecurity experts . The network remained locked on Wednesday and external researchers are still investigating . PGA of America has declined to comment . The golfing association did not reveal what ransomware infected its computers . But tech website Bleeping Computer found the demand matched the BitPaymer variant . Researcher Lawrence Abrams said one previous extortionAttack.Ransomscheme asked forAttack.Ransom53 bitcoins , equivalent to $ 335,000 . Abrams described BitPaymer as a “ secure ransomware ” and said the PGA would either have to rely on backups to regain access to its files or payAttack.Ransomthe significant bitcoin demandAttack.Ransom.
A massive attack is spreading globally by way of a vulnerability in Microsoft 's Server Message Block that was patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityin March . Ransomware is no longer just a nuisance . Now it 's quite literally a matter of life and death . A massive ransomware attackAttack.Ransombeing labeled as `` WannaCryAttack.Ransom`` has been reported around the world and is responsible for shutting down hospitals in the United Kingdom and encrypting files at Spanish telecom firm Telefonica . The WannaCry attackAttack.Ransomis not a zero-day flaw , but rather is based on an exploit that Microsoft patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitywith its MS17-010 advisory on March 14 in the SMB Server . However , Microsoft did not highlightVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe SMB flaw until April 14 , when a hacker group known as the Shadow Brokers releasedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitya set of exploits , allegedly stolenAttack.Databreachfrom the U.S.National Security Agency . SMB , or Server Message Block , is a critical protocol used by Windows to enable file and folder sharing . It 's also the protocol that today 's WannaCry attackAttack.Ransomis exploiting to rapidly spread from one host to the next around the world , literally at the speed of light . The attack is what is known as a worm , `` slithering '' from one host to the next on connected networks . Among the first large organizations to be impacted by WannaCry is The National Health Service in the UK , which has publicly confirmed that it was attackedAttack.Ransomby the Wan na Decryptor. `` This attackAttack.Ransomwas not specifically targeted at the NHS and is affecting organisations from across a range of sectors , '' the NHS stated . `` At this stage we do not have any evidence that patient data has been accessedAttack.Databreach. '' Security firm Kaspersky Lab reported that by 2:30 p.m . ET May 12 it had already seen more than 45,000 WannaCry attacksAttack.Ransomin 74 countries . While the ransomware attackAttack.Ransomis making use of the SMB vulnerability to spread , the encryption of files is done by the Wanna Decryptor attackAttack.Ransomthat seeks out all files on a victim 's network . Once the ransomware has completed encrypting files , victims are presented with a screen demanding a ransomAttack.Ransom. Initially , the ransom requestedAttack.Ransomwas reported to be $ 300 worth of Bitcoin , according to Kaspersky Lab . `` Many of your documents , photos , videos , databases and other files are no longer accessible because they have been encrypted , '' the ransom note states . `` Maybe you are busy looking for a way to recover your files , but do not waste your time . Nobody can recover your files without our decryption service . '' It 's not clear who the original source of the global WannaCry attacksAttack.Ransomis at this point , or even if it 's a single threat actor or multiple actors . What is clear is that despite the fact that a software patch has been availableVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitysince March for the SMB flaws , WannaCry is using tens of thousands of organizations that did n't patchVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability.
Austrian police arrested a 19-year-old teenager from Linz for infecting the network of a local company with the Philadelphia ransomware . The incident in question took place last year and targeted an unnamed company based in Linz . The attacker locked the company 's servers , including its production database . The attacker asked forAttack.Ransom$ 400 to unlock the company 's systems , but the victim refused and instead recovered its data via older backups . Attack traced back to Linz teenager The company filed a criminal complaint with the Austrian Federal Criminal Police Office ( Bundeskriminalamt , or BK ) , claiming damages of €3,000 due to production losses . An investigation by Austrian police 's SOKO Clavis unit tracked down the attack to a Linz teenager . Authorities searched the suspect 's homes , one in Linz , and one near Vienna , where he moved . Police arrested the young man , who was later released and is now under an official investigation . According to a BK spokesperson , the teenager denied all accusations . Teenager bought ransomware off the Dark Web Investigators believe the suspect bought the Philadelphia ransomware off the Dark Web . The ransomware is currently on sale on the AlphaBay Dark Web marketplace starting with $ 389 . The ransomware appeared in September 2016 and was based on the Stampado ransomware . Emsisoft released a free decrypter for Philadelphia a day after the ransomware first appeared . According to a Forcepoint report published today , Philadelphia is also the tool of choice for ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomagainst the healthcare sector . Austrian police are also investigating ( cached mirror ) another ransomware attackAttack.Ransomthat targeted an Austrian hotel . In late January , a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomat an Austrian hotel affected the electronic door locking system at an Austrian hotel . At the time of publishing Bleeping Computer could not confirm with Austrian police that this was the same attack they started investigating in mid-March .
The average ransomware attackAttack.Ransomyielded $ 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 payAttack.Ransomthe 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 incidentsAttack.Ransomof the last year include San Francisco ’ s Muni getting hitAttack.Ransom, Washington D.C. ’ s police department being breachedAttack.Databreachjust before inauguration and a Los Angeles college payingAttack.Ransoma $ 28,000 ransomAttack.Ransom. Hoping to turn the tide against the billion-dollar ransomware industry , last year the FBI urged businesses to alert authorities and not pay upAttack.Ransom. Instead , most keep attacksAttack.Ransoma secret , paying offAttack.Ransomhackers 70 percent of the time . That behavior only increases the sweet spot for demandsAttack.Ransom, as criminals seek the highest possible ransomAttack.Ransomwhile 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 demandAttack.Ransomseen in public during the last was $ 28,730 from MIRCOP ransomware . It ’ s not clear if anyone actually paid offAttack.Ransomthose specific hackers . In private , however , higher ransomsAttack.Ransomare 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 paidAttack.Ransomover $ 10,000 in ransomAttack.Ransomwhile 20 percent said they ’ d paidAttack.Ransomover $ 40,000 . Globally , 34 percent of victims end up paying ransomAttack.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 paysAttack.Ransom. ” The twist of the knife comes when only 47 percent of victims who pay the ransomAttack.Ransomactually recover any files . “ If so many people are willing to pay the ransomAttack.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 . ”
Robert Gren was working from home on Friday when , all of a sudden , his laptop stopped working . What he initially thought was just a kink in his computer ’ s software was in fact part of a global ransomware attackAttack.Ransomthat has affected more than 200,000 computers and caused untold havoc from China to Britain . Now , Mr. Gren and the thousands of other victims worldwide face an agonizing choice : either hand over the ransomAttack.Ransom— a figure that has climbed to $ 600 for each affected machine — by a deadline this Friday , or potentially lose their digital information , including personal photos , hospital patient records and other priceless data , forever . “ I ’ m pretty devastated , ” said Mr. Gren , 32 , a manager of an online entertainment business in Krakow , Poland , who has spent almost all of his waking hours since Friday looking for ways to reclaim his digital data . “ I ’ ve lost private files that I have no other way of recovering . For me , the damage has been huge. ” That decision has become even more difficult as cybersecurity experts and law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned people against paying the ransomAttack.Ransomahead of this week ’ s deadline . Aside from dissuading victims from handing over moneyAttack.Ransomthat may help fund further such attacks , they caution that it is not guaranteed the attackers will return control of people ’ s computers even if they payAttack.Ransomthe assailants in bitcoin , a digital currency favored in such ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomthat can be difficult to trace . Officials also note that the attackers , who have yet to been named , have provided only three bitcoin addresses — similar to a traditional bank routing number — for all global victims to deposit the ransomAttack.Ransom, so it may prove difficult to know who has paid the digital feesAttack.Ransom. This haphazard planning has led many victims to hold off payingAttack.Ransom, at least until they can guarantee they will get their data back . So far , roughly $ 80,000 has been depositedAttack.Ransominto the bitcoin addresses linked to the attackAttack.Ransom, according to Elliptic , a company that tracks online financial transactions involving virtual currencies . F-Secure , a Finnish cybersecurity firm , has confirmed that some of the 200 individuals that it had identified , who had paid the ransomAttack.Ransom, had successfully had their files decrypted . Yet that represented a small fraction of those affected , and the company said it still remained unlikely that people would regain control of their computers if they paid the online feeAttack.Ransom. The tally of ransom paymentsAttack.Ransommay rise ahead of Friday ’ s deadline , but cybersecurity experts say the current numbers — both total ransom money paidAttack.Ransomand machines decrypted — are far short of early estimates forecasting that the digital attack may eventually cost victims hundreds of millions of dollars in combined ransom feesAttack.Ransom. “ I predict this may be an epic failure , ” said Kim Peretti , a former senior litigator in the Department of Justice ’ s computer crime and intellectual property division who now is co-chairwoman of the cybersecurity preparedness and response team at Alston & Bird , an international law firm . “ Because of the publicity of this attack and the public ’ s awareness of people potentially not getting their files back , the figures aren ’ t as high as people had first thought. ” For victims of such attacks , the potential loss of personal or business files can be traumatic . In typical ransomware cases , including the most recent hack , assailants sendAttack.Phishingan encrypted email to potential targets . The message includes a malware attachment that takes over their machines if opened . The attackers then demand paymentAttack.Ransombefore returning control of the computers , often through money paid into bitcoin or other largely untraceable online currencies .
WannaCry only demandedAttack.Ransom$ 300 from each victim . These hackers extortedAttack.Ransom$ 1 million from one South Korean company . Hackers appear to have pulled offAttack.Ransoma $ 1 million heist with ransomware in South Korea . The ransomware attackedAttack.Ransommore 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 demandedAttack.Ransom550 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 reducedAttack.Ransomto 397 bitcoins , or about $ 1 million . This is the single largest-known payout for a ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, and it was an attackAttack.Ransomon one company . For comparison , the WannaCry ransomware attackedAttack.Ransom200,000 computers across 150 countries , and has only pooled $ 127,142 in bitcoins since it surfaced . Ransomware demandsAttack.Ransomhave risen rapidly over the past year , tripling in price from 2015 to 2016 . But even then , the highest cost of a single ransomware attackAttack.Ransomwas $ 28,730 . Nayana agreed to payAttack.Ransomthe ransomware in three installments , and said Saturday it 's already paidAttack.Ransomtwo-thirds of the $ 1 million demandAttack.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 paymentAttack.Ransomonce all the servers from the first and second payoutsAttack.Ransomhave 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 ransomwareAttack.Ransomis at the victim 's discretion , but nearly all organizations , including government agencies and security researchers , advise against it .
In wake of last week ’ s ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, technology specialists warn that ‘ paying moneyAttack.Ransomto a criminal is never a good idea ’ Cybersecurity experts have warned businesses against meeting hackers ’ demands for moneyAttack.Ransomin the wake of the “unprecedented” attackAttack.Ransomon hundreds of thousands of computer systems around the world . Ransomware is a type of malicious software that blocks access to a computer or its data and demands moneyAttack.Ransomto release it . The worm used in Friday ’ s attackAttack.Ransom, dubbed WannaCry or WanaCrypt0r , encrypted more than 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries for ransomsAttack.Ransomof $ 300 to $ 600 to restore access . The full damage of the attack and its economic cost was still unclear , but Europol ’ s director , Rob Wainwright , said its global reach was precedented , and more victims were likely to become known in the coming days . The extent of the WannaCry attackAttack.Ransomprompted questions about what to do in the event of a ransomware infection , with many experts advising against paying the ransomAttack.Ransom, saying not only could it fail to release the data , it could expose victims to further risk . Peter Coroneos , the former chief executive of the Internet Industry Association and an expert on cyber policy , said whether or not to agree to ransomware demandsAttack.Ransompresented practical and ethical dilemmas . “ These people are criminals , and paying money to a criminal is never a good idea . However , if it ’ s a trade-off between losing your lifetime ’ s family photos and making a paymentAttack.Ransomto a criminal , then it ’ s up to the individual to make that judgment call . “ It would be very hard to walk away. ” But Gregory said it would be “ self-defeating ” for hackers not to release data upon receipt of a ransomAttack.Ransom, “ because that would immediately hit the media , and no one would pay ” . But not all ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomwere motivated by financial gains , he added . “ If they ’ re a professional criminal organisation , their business model will be to release people ’ s computers once they ’ ve paid the moneyAttack.Ransom, but you don ’ t know . It could be someone having a laugh , or someone who ’ s trying to learn , or someone who ’ s released it accidentally . “ You just do not know – that ’ s the problem. ” With such attacks hitting computer systems at an “ ever-increasing rate ” , Gregory said prevention was the best course of action . With outdated operating systems “ easy targets ” , he urged individuals and businesses to automate updates and invest in software that protected against viruses , malware and ransomware across not only their computers , but tablets and mobile phones as well . “ It ’ s a combination of factors that will keep people safe ... For individuals , families have got to work together and companies have to take the time to ensure that their cybersecurity practices are up to date. ” Gregory recommended regular if not daily backups of personal data , which would allow victims to wipe the infected computer , reload their data , and start again .
Cyber criminals took a second swing at Mecklenburg County government on Thursday after officials rejected a demand for moneyAttack.Ransomfollowing a ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. The follow-up attempts to hold the county hostage over illegally encrypted data came just hours after County Manager Dena Diorio announced she ’ d decided against payingAttack.Ransoma hacker ransomAttack.Ransom. Instead of agreeing to payAttack.Ransomcriminals , she said Wednesday , the county will rebuild its system applications and restore files and data from backups . But by Thursday afternoon , hackers tried to strike again . Diorio sent staff members an email saying , “ I have a new warning for employees. ” As the county ’ s IT staff worked to recover from the first cyberattack , Diorio said , they discovered more attempts to compromiseAttack.Databreachcomputers and data on Thursday . “ To limit the possibility of a new infection , ITS is disabling employees ’ ability to open attachments generated by DropBox and Google Documents , ” she wrote in an email . “ The best advice for now is to limit your use of emails containing attachments , and try to conduct as much business as possible by phone or in person. ” She described the aftermath of the ransomware attackAttack.Ransomas a “ crisis ” and reassured employees they should not feel personally responsible for the incident . The county first learned of the problem earlier this week after an employee openedAttack.Phishinga malicious “ phishing ” email and accessed an attached file that unleashed a widespread problem inside the county ’ s network of computers and information technology . The intent of that ransomware attackAttack.Ransomwas to essentially access as many county government files and data servers as possible . Then , the information was encrypted or locked , keeping employees at the county from accessing operating systems and files . The person or people responsible for the infiltration then demandedAttack.Ransomthe county payAttack.Ransomtwo bitcoins , or about $ 23,000 , in exchange for a release of the locked data . The county refused to payAttack.Ransom. County officials say they anticipate the recovery time for Mecklenburg County government operations will take days . “ We are open for business , and we are slow , but there ’ s no indication of any data lossAttack.Databreachor that personal information was compromisedAttack.Databreach, ” Diorio said . Diorio said third-party security experts believe the attackAttack.Ransomearlier this week by a new strain of ransomware called LockCrypt originated from Iran or Ukraine . Forty-eight of about 500 county computer servers were affected .
( TNS ) — Last month , employees at the Colorado Department of Transportation were greeted by a message on their computer screens similar to this : “ All your files are encrypted with RSA-2048 encryption . … It ’ s not possible to recover your files without private key . … You must sendAttack.Ransomus 0.7 BitCoin for each affected PC or 3 BitCoins to receive ALL Private Keys for ALL affected PC ’ s. ” CDOT isn’t payingAttack.Ransom, but others have . In fact , so-called ransomware has become one of the most lucrative criminal enterprises in the U.S. and internationally , with the FBI estimating total paymentsAttack.Ransomare nearing $ 1 billion . Hackers use ransomware to encrypt computer files , making them unreadable without a secret key , and then demand digital currencyAttack.Ransomlike bitcoin if victims want the files back — and many victims are falling for that promise . Ransomware infects more than 100,000 computers around the world every day and paymentsAttack.Ransomare approaching $ 1 billion , said U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein during the October 2017 Cambridge Cyber Summit , citing FBI statistics . A study by researchers at Google , Chainalysis , University of California San Diego and NYU Tandon School of Engineering estimated that from 2016 to mid 2017 , victims paidAttack.Ransom$ 25 million in ransomAttack.Ransomto get files back . And one out of five businesses that do pay the ransomAttack.Ransomdon ’ t get their data back , according to 2016 report by Kaspersky Labs . Last spring , the Erie County Medical Center in New York was attackedAttack.Ransomby SamSam due to a misconfigured web server , according to The Buffalo News . Because it had backed up its files , the hospital decided not to payAttack.Ransomthe estimated $ 44,000 ransomAttack.Ransom. It took six weeks to get back to normal at a recovery cost of nearly $ 10 million . More recently in January , the new SamSam variant sneakedAttack.Ransominto Indiana hospital Hancock Health , which decided to payAttack.Ransom4 bitcoin , or about $ 55,000 , in ransomAttack.Ransom. Attackers gained entry by using a vendor ’ s username and password on a Thursday night . The hospital was back online by Monday morning . Colorado security officials are still investigating the CDOT ransomware attackAttack.Ransomthat took 2,000 employee computers offline for more than a week . They don ’ t plan to pay the ransomAttack.Ransombut offered few details about the attackAttack.Ransomother than confirming it was a variant of the SamSam ransomware . Security researchers with Cisco ’ s Talos , which shared the SamSam message with The Denver Post , reported in January that the new SamSam variant had so far collected 30.4 bitcoin , or about $ 325,217 . The reality is that people need to be smarter about computer security . That means patching software , using anti-malware software , and not sharing passwords and accounts . And not opening files , emails or links from unfamiliar sources — and sometimes familiar sources . Webroot doesn ’ t have an official stance on whether to pay a ransomAttack.Ransomto get files back , but Dufour says it ’ s a personal decision . Cybersecurity companies like Webroot can advise whether the hacker has a reputation for restoring files after payment is receivedAttack.Ransom. “ Paying a ransomAttack.Ransomto a cybercriminal is an incredibly personal decision . It ’ s easy to say not to negotiate with criminals when it ’ s not your family photos or business data that you ’ ll never see again . Unfortunately , if you want your data back , paying the ransomAttack.Ransomis often the only option , ” Dufour said . “ However , it ’ s important to know that there are some strains of ransomware that have coding and encryption errors . For these cases , even paying the ransomAttack.Ransomwon ’ t decrypt your data . I recommend checking with a computer security expert before paying any ransomAttack.Ransom. ”
Hackers logged into the hospital ’ s remote access portal using a third-party vendor ’ s username and password . Greenfield , Indiana-based Hancock Health paidAttack.Ransomhackers 4 bitcoin or about $ 47,000 to unlock its network on Saturday , after the health system fell victim to a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomon Thursday night . Hackers compromisedAttack.Databreacha third-party vendor ’ s administrative account to the hospital ’ s remote-access portal and launched SamSam ransomware . The virus infected a number of the hospital ’ s IT system and , according to local reports , the malware targeted over 1,400 files and changed the name of each to “ I ’ m sorry. ” Hancock officials followed its incident response and crisis management plan and contacted legal representation and outside security firm immediately following the discovery of the attack . Hospital leadership also contacted the FBI for advisory assistance . The incident was contained by Friday and officials said the next focus was recovery . Hancock Health was given just seven days to pay the ransomAttack.Ransom. While officials said Hancock could have recovered the affected files from backups , it would have taken days or possibly weeks to do so . And it would have been more expensive . “ We were in a very precarious situation at the time of the attack , ” Hancock Health CEO Steve Long said in a statement . “ With the ice and snow storm at hand , coupled with one of the worst flu seasons in memory , we wanted to recover our systems in the quickest way possible and avoid extending the burden toward other hospitals of diverting patients . Restoring from backup was considered , though we made the deliberate decision to pay the ransomAttack.Ransomto expedite our return to full operations. ” Hackers released the files early Saturday after they retrieved the bitcoins . The hospital ’ s critical systems were restored to normal function on Monday . The forensic analysis found patient data was not transferredAttack.Databreachoutside of the hospital ’ s network , and the FBI confirmed the motivation for SamSam hackers is ransom paymentAttack.Ransom, not to harvestAttack.Databreachpatient data . The virus did not impact any equipment used to treat patients . However , the hospital ’ s patient portal was down during the security incident . After recovery , officials asked employees to reset passwords and implemented a security feature that could detect similar attacks in the future . The breachAttack.Databreachshould serve as a wake-up call that ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomcan happen . However , it ’ s important to note the FBI , the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a laundry list of security experts have long stressed that organizations should not pay ransomsAttack.Ransomto hackers . While the hackers returned the files to Hancock , there was no guarantee that would happen . For example , Kansas Heart Hospital paid a ransomAttack.Ransomin May 2016 , and the hackers kept the files and demanded another paymentAttack.Ransom. The hospital declined to payAttack.Ransoma second time . Secondly , when an organization paysAttack.Ransom, hackers place the business on a list of those willing to pay the ransomAttack.Ransomand can expect to be hitAttack.Ransomagain in the future . “ There are lists out there , if you pay once , you may end up having to pay again because you ’ ve been marked as an organization that will pay , ” said CynergisTek CEO Mac McMillan .
In the wake of Hurricane Florence disaster , ONWASA , a water utility company has been specifically targeted by cyber criminals . ONWASA provides water and sewer service to all of Onslow County except Jacksonville residents . According to a press release , ONWASA 's internal computer system , including servers and personal computers , have been subjected to a sophisticated ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. The attack has left the utility with limited computer capabilities . CEO Jeffrey Hudson said customer information was not compromisedAttack.Databreachin the attackAttack.Databreach. However , many other databases must be recreated in their entirety . ONWASA is working with the FBI , the Department of Homeland Security , the state of North Carolina and several technology security companies . They are also receiving help from N.C . Senator Harry Brown and N.C . Senator Thom Tillis . Hudson said he believes the attack was a targeted one because the hackers chose a local government that has recently been ransacked by a natural disaster . The hackers struck at 3 a.m. on Saturday -- a time Hudson says was their most vulnerable . The attack is similar in nature to the one experienced in Mecklenburg County last year . Hudson said the damage the attack caused could take weeks or even months to fix . According to ONWASA , the company had multiple layers of computer protection in place , including firewalls and malware/anti-virus software . The defenses of the computer systems at the main office were penetrated . ONWASA has received one email from the cyber criminals , who may be based in a foreign country . The email is consistent with ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomof other governments and corporations . Ransom monies would be used to fund criminal , and perhaps terrorist activities in other countries . There is no expectation that a ransom paymentAttack.Ransomwould stop future attacks . The cyber attackers are demanding paymentAttack.Ransomto decrypt everything that was stolen . ONWASA said it will not `` negotiate with criminals nor bow to their demandsAttack.Ransom. '' Instead , ONWASA will rebuild its databases and computer systems from the ground up .
A GandCrab ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, combined with a Comcast outage , caused a Florida Keys school district ’ s computer system to be down for a week . The computer system in a Florida Keys school district were down for a week due to a ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. The problems were made worse when just as the district was bringing up some administration and school computers , Comcast suffered a day-long outage due to a cut fiber . Monroe County School District was the victim of a GandCrab ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. GandCrab , first spotted in January , was dubbed the leading ransomware threat in July . A school district employee working on payroll discovered undisclosed problems on Sunday , Sept 9 , and submitted an IT ticket . IT contacted Symantec and was advised to bring it all down and secure the system . Pat Lefere , executive director of operations and planning for the district , told the Miami Herald , “ This particular one was a variant that Symantec hadn ’ t seen before . They took all of our files and created a patch for us . It was applied to all servers before bringing them back up. ” Symantec shows the latest detected GandCrab ransomware discovered on Wednesday , Sept 12 , but it may not be the variant that hit the Florida school district , as the IT department thought it had fixed the problem on Tuesday morning . Yet upon bringing the system back up , they saw the same issues as when the ransomware was discovered on Sunday and shut the system down again . “ We haven ’ t had any access to data that was inappropriate nor have we had lost data , ” district superintendent Mark Porter later told the Miami Herald . “ The bad news is we haven ’ t had the type of access our employees are used to. ” The cyber attack did not affect payroll , but it did affect delivery of students ’ mid-quarter progress reports . Monroe County School District claimed there were no ransom demandsAttack.Ransom, but since ransomware locks up a system and demands paymentAttack.Ransomto retrieve a decryption key for encrypted files , perhaps the district meant it didn ’ t cave to extortion ? Lefere said , “ That only happens for folks that don ’ t back up their stuff and are so desperate . We recover our files from the last backup. ” The district ’ s website was back up by Wednesday , but the computer systems remained partially down on Thursday . Lefere said the district rebuilt “ each server from scratch to make sure they ’ re clean . ”
A GandCrab ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, combined with a Comcast outage , caused a Florida Keys school district ’ s computer system to be down for a week . The computer system in a Florida Keys school district were down for a week due to a ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. The problems were made worse when just as the district was bringing up some administration and school computers , Comcast suffered a day-long outage due to a cut fiber . Monroe County School District was the victim of a GandCrab ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. GandCrab , first spotted in January , was dubbed the leading ransomware threat in July . A school district employee working on payroll discovered undisclosed problems on Sunday , Sept 9 , and submitted an IT ticket . IT contacted Symantec and was advised to bring it all down and secure the system . Pat Lefere , executive director of operations and planning for the district , told the Miami Herald , “ This particular one was a variant that Symantec hadn ’ t seen before . They took all of our files and created a patch for us . It was applied to all servers before bringing them back up. ” Symantec shows the latest detected GandCrab ransomware discovered on Wednesday , Sept 12 , but it may not be the variant that hit the Florida school district , as the IT department thought it had fixed the problem on Tuesday morning . Yet upon bringing the system back up , they saw the same issues as when the ransomware was discovered on Sunday and shut the system down again . “ We haven ’ t had any access to data that was inappropriate nor have we had lost data , ” district superintendent Mark Porter later told the Miami Herald . “ The bad news is we haven ’ t had the type of access our employees are used to. ” The cyber attack did not affect payroll , but it did affect delivery of students ’ mid-quarter progress reports . Monroe County School District claimed there were no ransom demandsAttack.Ransom, but since ransomware locks up a system and demands paymentAttack.Ransomto retrieve a decryption key for encrypted files , perhaps the district meant it didn ’ t cave to extortion ? Lefere said , “ That only happens for folks that don ’ t back up their stuff and are so desperate . We recover our files from the last backup. ” The district ’ s website was back up by Wednesday , but the computer systems remained partially down on Thursday . Lefere said the district rebuilt “ each server from scratch to make sure they ’ re clean . ”
The US Attorney 's Office for the District of Northern Georgia announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury had returned indictments against two Iranian nationals charged with executing the March 2018 ransomware attackAttack.Ransomthat paralyzed Atlanta city government services for over a week . Faramarz Shahi Savandi and Mohammed Mehdi Shah Mansouri are accused of using the Samsam ransomware to encrypt files on 3,789 City of Atlanta computers , including servers and workstations , in an attempt to extortAttack.RansomBitcoin from Atlanta officials . Details leaked by City of Atlanta employees during the ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, including screenshots of the demand message posted on city computers , indicated that Samsam-based malware was used . A Samsam variant was used in a number of ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomon hospitals in 2016 , with attackers using vulnerable Java Web services to gain entry in several cases . In more recent attacks , including one on the health industry companies Hancock Health and Allscripts , other methods were used to gain access , including Remote Desktop Protocol hacks that gave the attackers direct access to Windows systems on the victims ' networks . The Atlanta attack was not a targeted state-sponsored attack . The attackers likely chose Atlanta based on a vulnerability scan . According to the indictment , the attackers offeredAttack.Ransomthe city the option of payingAttack.Ransomsix Bitcoin ( currently the equivalent of $ 22,500 ) to get keys to unlock all the affected systems or 0.8 Bitcoin ( about $ 3,000 ) for individual systems . `` The ransom note directed the City of Atlanta to a particular Bitcoin address to pay the ransomAttack.Ransomand supplied a web domain that was only accessible using a Tor browser , '' a Department of Justice spokesperson said in a statement . `` The note suggested that the City of Atlanta could download the decryption key from that website . '' But within days of the attack , the Tor page became unreachable , and the City of Atlanta did not pay the ransomAttack.Ransom. Savandi , 27 , of Shiraz , Iran , and Mansouri , 34 , of Qom , Iran , have been charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ( CFAA ) for `` intentional damage to protected computers ... that caused losses exceeding $ 5,000 , affected more than 10 protected computers , and that threatened the public health and safety , '' the Justice Department spokesperson said . They are also charged in a separate indictment in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey in connection with another ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, in which a ransom was apparently paidAttack.Ransom.
The US Attorney 's Office for the District of Northern Georgia announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury had returned indictments against two Iranian nationals charged with executing the March 2018 ransomware attackAttack.Ransomthat paralyzed Atlanta city government services for over a week . Faramarz Shahi Savandi and Mohammed Mehdi Shah Mansouri are accused of using the Samsam ransomware to encrypt files on 3,789 City of Atlanta computers , including servers and workstations , in an attempt to extortAttack.RansomBitcoin from Atlanta officials . Details leaked by City of Atlanta employees during the ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, including screenshots of the demand message posted on city computers , indicated that Samsam-based malware was used . A Samsam variant was used in a number of ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomon hospitals in 2016 , with attackers using vulnerable Java Web services to gain entry in several cases . In more recent attacks , including one on the health industry companies Hancock Health and Allscripts , other methods were used to gain access , including Remote Desktop Protocol hacks that gave the attackers direct access to Windows systems on the victims ' networks . The Atlanta attack was not a targeted state-sponsored attack . The attackers likely chose Atlanta based on a vulnerability scan . According to the indictment , the attackers offeredAttack.Ransomthe city the option of payingAttack.Ransomsix Bitcoin ( currently the equivalent of $ 22,500 ) to get keys to unlock all the affected systems or 0.8 Bitcoin ( about $ 3,000 ) for individual systems . `` The ransom note directed the City of Atlanta to a particular Bitcoin address to pay the ransomAttack.Ransomand supplied a web domain that was only accessible using a Tor browser , '' a Department of Justice spokesperson said in a statement . `` The note suggested that the City of Atlanta could download the decryption key from that website . '' But within days of the attack , the Tor page became unreachable , and the City of Atlanta did not pay the ransomAttack.Ransom. Savandi , 27 , of Shiraz , Iran , and Mansouri , 34 , of Qom , Iran , have been charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ( CFAA ) for `` intentional damage to protected computers ... that caused losses exceeding $ 5,000 , affected more than 10 protected computers , and that threatened the public health and safety , '' the Justice Department spokesperson said . They are also charged in a separate indictment in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey in connection with another ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, in which a ransom was apparently paidAttack.Ransom.
Small and medium businesses across Europe are being actively targeted by ransomware attacksAttack.Ransom, new research has shown . According to data protection firm Datto , 87 % of European IT service providers it surveyed said their SMB customers had been hitAttack.Ransomby a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomat some point during the previous 12 months . Additionally , 40 % of respondents reported multiple attacks during that time . Just over a quarter of respondents ( 27 % ) reported experiencing multiple attacks in a single day . In terms of the impact these attacks are having , the survey revealed the average ransom demandedAttack.Ransomwas between £500 and £2000 . In 15 % of reported cases the demand was in excess of £2000 . Nearly half ( 47 % ) said paying the ransomAttack.Ransomwas ineffective , as they still lost some of the data that had been encrypted by the attackers . As well as financial penalties , ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomcan also impact the business in other ways . A majority of respondents ( 62 % ) said they ’ d experienced downtime during the attack . For smaller organizations , the combination of financial loss and downtime can threaten the continued operation of the business , Datto said . Frustratingly , just 40 % of ransomware victims end up reporting the crime to the authorities . The FBI has previously said that reporting ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomwill help it get a better understanding of exactly how many attacks are occurring as well as help the industry develop its defenses ; traditional antivirus has so far proved to be ineffectual against most ransomware . “ Ransomware is more than just a nuisance ; it ’ s a major money-making operation backed by professional and well-funded organizations , ” said Andrew Stuart , managing director , EMEA at Datto .
Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacksAttack.Phishingjumped 45 % in the final quarter of 2016 , compared to the previous three months , according to new stats from Proofpoint . The security vendor claimed such attacks have grown both in volume and sophistication . Also known as “ CEO fraud ” and “ whaling ” , these attacksAttack.Phishingtypically involve fraudsters spoofingAttack.Phishingthe email addresses of company CEOs to trickAttack.Phishingstaff members into transferring funds outside the company . However , Proofpoint also includes attempts to target HR teams for confidential tax information and sensitive employee data , as well as engineering departments which may have access to a wealth of lucrative corporate IP . In its analysis of over 5000 global enterprise customers , it claimed that in two-thirds of cases the attacker spoofedAttack.Phishingthe “ from ” email domain to display the same as that of the targeted company . These attacksAttack.Phishingcan thwart some systems , because they don ’ t feature malware as such – just a combination of this domain spoofingAttack.Phishingand social engineering of the victim to force them to pay up . Part of the trick is to harry the target , rushing them so they have less time to think about what they ’ re doing . That ’ s why over 70 % of the most common BECAttack.Phishingsubject line families appraised by Proofpoint featured the words “ Urgent ” , “ Payment ” and “ Request ” . The vendor claimed that firms in the manufacturing , retail and technology sectors are especially at risk , as cyber-criminals repeatedly look to take advantage of more complex supply chains and SaaS infrastructures . Vice-president of products , Robert Holmes , argued that although employee education was important , it needs to be complemented by the right set of tools to weed out fraudulent emails . “ When it comes to BEC attacksAttack.Phishing, employees should never be an organization ’ s first line of defense . It is the organization ’ s responsibility to ensure that security technologies are in place , so that BEC attacks are stopped before they can reach their intended target , ” he told Infosecurity Magazine . BECAttack.Phishinghas become so popular among the black hats that the FBI warned organizations last year the scams had cost billions since 2013 . Trend Micro predicted that 2017 would see more and more cyber-criminals turn to BECAttack.Phishinggiven the potential rich pickings – claiming the average pay-out is $ 140,000 , versus just $ 722 for a typical ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. However , Holmes argued that ransomware and BEC actors are likely “ two distinct types of criminal ” . “ While ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomrequire technical infrastructure to launch campaigns at scale , BEC attacksAttack.Phishingare socially engineered and highly targeted in nature , conducted by a single actor rather than teams , and generally launched from shared email platforms , ” he explained . “ While cyber-criminals will always go where the money is , we do not envision a drastic change in tactics such as traditional purveyors of ransomware transitioning to BECAttack.Phishing. As long as ransomware and trojans continue to pay , cyber-criminals with technical skillsets are unlikely to down tools and pivot towards such a fundamentally different type of attack vector . ”
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 compromisedAttack.Databreachin any way . “ Through the assessments that we have been running , we have seen no indication that there has been a compromiseAttack.Databreachof 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 attacksAttack.Ransomhave grown exponentially in the last two years , and likens them to Internet extortionAttack.Ransom. “ They are very successful , and so that is why we are seeing an exponential growth in ransomware attacksAttack.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 attacksAttack.Ransomare 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 demandsAttack.Ransomthe target pay a ransomAttack.Ransomto get their files unencrypted , and in just about every ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, the hackers cover their tracks by demanding paymentAttack.Ransomin bitcoin–a virtual currency that is hard , if not impossible to trace . Once the ransom is paidAttack.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 .
The ransomware attackAttack.Ransomtargeting global hospitals , governments and telecoms using a leaked National Security Agency ( NSA ) exploit may be the result of a `` targeted attack gone horribly wrong '' , according to a team of well-regarded security researchers . Experts from Recorded Future , a threat intelligence company headquartered in the US , say analysis of the hackers ' bitcoin addresses – set up to receive money from infected computers – indicates the attackers were unprepared for such a widespread incident . `` A part of carefully planned large-scale ransomware attackAttack.Ransomrequires a separate bitcoin address for each victim , guaranteeing the miscreant controlling the operation would later be able to identify the paymentAttack.Ransomand decrypt the correct system , '' wrote security expert John Wetzel in a blog post . He said in the WannaCry ransomware campaignAttack.Ransom, however , only a `` handful '' of wallets were used . `` Such unusual behaviour suggests the current epidemic was never planned by criminals , and resulted from targeted attacks going horribly wrong , '' he added . At the time of writing , the criminals ' bitcoin wallets have received over $ 40,000 worth of bitcoin , a type of cryptocurrency . All funds remain untouched . The security firm said the inaction is likely due to `` intense scrutiny '' of police and investigators . `` Unintended or not , the scale and scope of damage in this attack is unprecedented . Criminals will utilise any method available in their pursuit of monetary gain . While the gain in this attack was limited , the damage was massive , and possibly avoidable , '' Wetzel noted . Recorded Future is just one of many firms probing the malware – which was exploiting the same Microsoft Windows vulnerability as a leaked NSA exploit called EternalBlue . The bug , patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityin March 2017 , targeted the SMB ( Server Message Block ) , experts foundVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability. Microsoft has been outspoken on the topic of the NSA storing vulnerabilities for its software . `` Repeatedly , exploits in the hands of governments have leaked into the public domain and caused widespread damage , '' said the firm 's president , Brad Smith , on 14 May . `` We expect to see further attacks from variants of this malware , '' warned Recorded Future , adding : `` The best advice is to update your antivirus on endpoints , to ensure that all Windows systems are fully patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability, to configure firewalls to block access to SMB and RDP ports . '' On 15 May , as the UK working week was set to begin , fears mounted that a second round of infections could take place . According to Kaspersky Lab 's Costin Raiu , the malware was still in circulation , but appeared to be less widespread than previously predicted . `` Kaspersky Lab has noted about 500 new attempted WannaCry attacksAttack.Ransomacross its customer base – by comparison , on 12 May ( Friday ) there were six times as many attempts during the first hour alone . This suggests the infection may be coming under control , '' Raiu said . Security experts , including MalwareTech and Matt Suiche , worked through the weekend ( 13-14 May ) to locate so-called `` kill-switches '' that could curb the spread of the ransomware . At the same , law enforcement around the world launched investigations into the incident .
The ransomware attackAttack.Ransomtargeting global hospitals , governments and telecoms using a leaked National Security Agency ( NSA ) exploit may be the result of a `` targeted attack gone horribly wrong '' , according to a team of well-regarded security researchers . Experts from Recorded Future , a threat intelligence company headquartered in the US , say analysis of the hackers ' bitcoin addresses – set up to receive money from infected computers – indicates the attackers were unprepared for such a widespread incident . `` A part of carefully planned large-scale ransomware attackAttack.Ransomrequires a separate bitcoin address for each victim , guaranteeing the miscreant controlling the operation would later be able to identify the paymentAttack.Ransomand decrypt the correct system , '' wrote security expert John Wetzel in a blog post . He said in the WannaCry ransomware campaignAttack.Ransom, however , only a `` handful '' of wallets were used . `` Such unusual behaviour suggests the current epidemic was never planned by criminals , and resulted from targeted attacks going horribly wrong , '' he added . At the time of writing , the criminals ' bitcoin wallets have received over $ 40,000 worth of bitcoin , a type of cryptocurrency . All funds remain untouched . The security firm said the inaction is likely due to `` intense scrutiny '' of police and investigators . `` Unintended or not , the scale and scope of damage in this attack is unprecedented . Criminals will utilise any method available in their pursuit of monetary gain . While the gain in this attack was limited , the damage was massive , and possibly avoidable , '' Wetzel noted . Recorded Future is just one of many firms probing the malware – which was exploiting the same Microsoft Windows vulnerability as a leaked NSA exploit called EternalBlue . The bug , patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityin March 2017 , targeted the SMB ( Server Message Block ) , experts foundVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability. Microsoft has been outspoken on the topic of the NSA storing vulnerabilities for its software . `` Repeatedly , exploits in the hands of governments have leaked into the public domain and caused widespread damage , '' said the firm 's president , Brad Smith , on 14 May . `` We expect to see further attacks from variants of this malware , '' warned Recorded Future , adding : `` The best advice is to update your antivirus on endpoints , to ensure that all Windows systems are fully patchedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability, to configure firewalls to block access to SMB and RDP ports . '' On 15 May , as the UK working week was set to begin , fears mounted that a second round of infections could take place . According to Kaspersky Lab 's Costin Raiu , the malware was still in circulation , but appeared to be less widespread than previously predicted . `` Kaspersky Lab has noted about 500 new attempted WannaCry attacksAttack.Ransomacross its customer base – by comparison , on 12 May ( Friday ) there were six times as many attempts during the first hour alone . This suggests the infection may be coming under control , '' Raiu said . Security experts , including MalwareTech and Matt Suiche , worked through the weekend ( 13-14 May ) to locate so-called `` kill-switches '' that could curb the spread of the ransomware . At the same , law enforcement around the world launched investigations into the incident .
Cyber security researchers on Monday pointed to code in a "ransomware" attackAttack.Ransomthat could indicate a link to North Korea . Symantec and Kaspersky Lab each cited code that was previously used by a hacker collective known as the Lazarus Group , which was behind the high-profile 2014 hack of Sony that was also blamed on North Korea . But the security firms cautioned that it is too early to make any definitive conclusions , in part because the code could have been merely copied by someone else for use in the current event . The effects of the ransomware attackAttack.Ransomappeared to ease Monday , although thousands more computers , mostly in Asia , were hitAttack.Ransomas people signed in at work for the first time since the infections spread to 150 countries late last week . Health officials in Britain , where surgeries and doctors ' appointments in its national health care system had been severely impacted Friday , were still having problems Monday . But health minister Jeremy Hunt said it was `` encouraging '' that a second wave of attacks had not materialized . He said `` the level of criminal activity is at the lower end of the range that we had anticipated . '' In the United States , Tom Bossert , a homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump , told the ABC television network the global cybersecurity attack is something that `` for right now , we 've got under control . '' He told reporters at the White House that `` less than $ 70,000 '' has been paid as ransomAttack.Ransomto those carrying out the attacks . He urged all computer users to make sure they installVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitysoftware patches to protect themselves against further cyberattacks . In the television interview , Bossert described the malware that paralyzed 200,000 computers running factories , banks , government agencies , hospitals and transportation systems across the globe as an `` extremely serious threat . '' Cybersecurity experts say the hackers behind the `` WannaCry '' ransomware , who demandedAttack.Ransom$ 300 paymentsAttack.Ransomto decrypt files locked by the malware , used a vulnerability that came from U.S. government documents leaked online . The attacks exploitedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityknown vulnerabilities in older Microsoft computer operating systems . During the weekend , Microsoft president Brad Smith said the clandestine U.S. National Security Agency had developed the code used in the attack . Bossert said `` criminals , '' not the U.S. government , are responsible for the attacks . Like Bossert , experts believe Microsoft 's security patch releasedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityin March should protect networks if companies and individual users install it . Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country had nothing to do with the attack and cited the Microsoft statement blaming the NSA for causing the worldwide cyberattack . `` A genie let out of a bottle of this kind , especially created by secret services , can then cause damage to its authors and creators , '' Putin said while attending an international summit in Beijing . He said that while there was `` no significant damage '' to Russian institutions from the cyberattack , the incident was `` worrisome . '' `` There is nothing good in this and calls for concern , '' he said . Even though there appeared to be a diminished number of attacks Monday , computer outages still affected segments of life across the globe , especially in Asia , where Friday 's attacks occurred after business hours . China China said 29,000 institutions had been affected , along with hundreds of thousands of devices . Japan 's computer emergency response team said 2,000 computers at 600 locations were affected there . Universities and other educational institutions appeared to be the hardest hit in China . China 's Xinhua News Agency said railway stations , mail delivery , gas stations , hospitals , office buildings , shopping malls and government services also were affected . Elsewhere , Britain said seven of the 47 trusts that run its national health care system were still affected , with some surgeries and outpatient appointments canceled as a result . In France , auto manufacturer Renault said one of its plants that employs 3,500 workers stayed shut Monday as technicians dealt with the aftermath of the Friday attacks . Security patches Computer security experts have assured individual computer users who have kept their operating systems updated that they are relatively safe , but urged companies and governments to make sure they applyVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitysecurity patches or upgradeVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityto newer systems . They advised those whose networks have been effectively shut down by the ransomware attackAttack.Ransomnot to make the payment demandedAttack.Ransom, the equivalent of $ 300 , paidAttack.Ransomin the digital currency bitcoin . However , the authors of the "WannaCry" ransomware attackAttack.Ransomtold their victims the amount they must payAttack.Ransomwill double if they do not comply within three days of the original infection , by Monday in most cases . The hackers warned that they will delete all files on infected systems if no paymentAttack.Ransomis received within seven days .
Cyber security researchers on Monday pointed to code in a "ransomware" attackAttack.Ransomthat could indicate a link to North Korea . Symantec and Kaspersky Lab each cited code that was previously used by a hacker collective known as the Lazarus Group , which was behind the high-profile 2014 hack of Sony that was also blamed on North Korea . But the security firms cautioned that it is too early to make any definitive conclusions , in part because the code could have been merely copied by someone else for use in the current event . The effects of the ransomware attackAttack.Ransomappeared to ease Monday , although thousands more computers , mostly in Asia , were hitAttack.Ransomas people signed in at work for the first time since the infections spread to 150 countries late last week . Health officials in Britain , where surgeries and doctors ' appointments in its national health care system had been severely impacted Friday , were still having problems Monday . But health minister Jeremy Hunt said it was `` encouraging '' that a second wave of attacks had not materialized . He said `` the level of criminal activity is at the lower end of the range that we had anticipated . '' In the United States , Tom Bossert , a homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump , told the ABC television network the global cybersecurity attack is something that `` for right now , we 've got under control . '' He told reporters at the White House that `` less than $ 70,000 '' has been paid as ransomAttack.Ransomto those carrying out the attacks . He urged all computer users to make sure they installVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitysoftware patches to protect themselves against further cyberattacks . In the television interview , Bossert described the malware that paralyzed 200,000 computers running factories , banks , government agencies , hospitals and transportation systems across the globe as an `` extremely serious threat . '' Cybersecurity experts say the hackers behind the `` WannaCry '' ransomware , who demandedAttack.Ransom$ 300 paymentsAttack.Ransomto decrypt files locked by the malware , used a vulnerability that came from U.S. government documents leaked online . The attacks exploitedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityknown vulnerabilities in older Microsoft computer operating systems . During the weekend , Microsoft president Brad Smith said the clandestine U.S. National Security Agency had developed the code used in the attack . Bossert said `` criminals , '' not the U.S. government , are responsible for the attacks . Like Bossert , experts believe Microsoft 's security patch releasedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityin March should protect networks if companies and individual users install it . Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country had nothing to do with the attack and cited the Microsoft statement blaming the NSA for causing the worldwide cyberattack . `` A genie let out of a bottle of this kind , especially created by secret services , can then cause damage to its authors and creators , '' Putin said while attending an international summit in Beijing . He said that while there was `` no significant damage '' to Russian institutions from the cyberattack , the incident was `` worrisome . '' `` There is nothing good in this and calls for concern , '' he said . Even though there appeared to be a diminished number of attacks Monday , computer outages still affected segments of life across the globe , especially in Asia , where Friday 's attacks occurred after business hours . China China said 29,000 institutions had been affected , along with hundreds of thousands of devices . Japan 's computer emergency response team said 2,000 computers at 600 locations were affected there . Universities and other educational institutions appeared to be the hardest hit in China . China 's Xinhua News Agency said railway stations , mail delivery , gas stations , hospitals , office buildings , shopping malls and government services also were affected . Elsewhere , Britain said seven of the 47 trusts that run its national health care system were still affected , with some surgeries and outpatient appointments canceled as a result . In France , auto manufacturer Renault said one of its plants that employs 3,500 workers stayed shut Monday as technicians dealt with the aftermath of the Friday attacks . Security patches Computer security experts have assured individual computer users who have kept their operating systems updated that they are relatively safe , but urged companies and governments to make sure they applyVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitysecurity patches or upgradeVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityto newer systems . They advised those whose networks have been effectively shut down by the ransomware attackAttack.Ransomnot to make the payment demandedAttack.Ransom, the equivalent of $ 300 , paidAttack.Ransomin the digital currency bitcoin . However , the authors of the "WannaCry" ransomware attackAttack.Ransomtold their victims the amount they must payAttack.Ransomwill double if they do not comply within three days of the original infection , by Monday in most cases . The hackers warned that they will delete all files on infected systems if no paymentAttack.Ransomis received within seven days .
The recent WannaCry ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, which spread to more than 100 countries , is only the beginning in a series of similar attacks , according to Cătălin Coșoi , head of the Bitdefender ’ s investigation team coordinating the relations of the company with institutions such as NATO , Europol , Interpol , or national response centers to cyber-security incidents , Agerpres reported . Romanian group Bitdefender is a global technology security company which provides cyber security solutions to more than 500 million users across businesses and homes in more than 150 countries . “ The WannaCry 1.0 and 2.0 versions , a type of fast-spreading ransomware that blocks the data of the users and then asks for a ransomAttack.Ransom, are only the beginning in a series of similar , ample attacks , making WannaCry one of the most significant IT threats of the next 12 months . The amplitude of the WannaCry phenomenonAttack.Ransomcan be reduced rapidly if Microsoft decides to pushVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityan update to all users who do not use the most recent version of the Windows operating system . This measure has been taken before , and the reach of the WannaCry threatAttack.Ransomcould justify this again , in a controlled and coordinated method , with the support of authorities and of cyber-security companies . Although the measure of updating without the user ’ s permission would force the limits of current legislation , the Bitdefender expertise in cyber-security has proven that , many times , current regulations do not keep up with the evolution of the criminal phenomenon . This is why cooperation between authorities and the IT security industry is more needed than ever , ” Coșoi explained . The computers in public institutions , hospitals , and other social sector organizations are not usually updated with the most recent OS system , the Bitdefender representative said . “ If the respective terminals are not infected by ransomware now , they will remain vulnerable to other threats , including cyber-attacks sponsored by other states . In the event of such a scenario , ransomware would be a fortunate case , because it produces palpable consequences . On the other hand , the advanced threats used for espionage purposes could exploit the vulnerability of the operating system and systematically stealAttack.Databreachinformation for a long time , without being detected , ” Coșoi explained . A global WannaCry ransomware attackAttack.Ransomtook place last weekend , affecting some 100 countries . The attack , which has been called “ unprecedented ” by Europol , has affected hospitals in Britain and Spanish telecom operator Telefonica , as well as courier service FedEx in the US . Car-maker Dacia had to halt its local production activities because of the attack . WannaCry is a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomwhich exploits a vulnerability of the Microsoft Windows operating system . Once installed on the infected computer , the virus encrypts the users ’ files and demands paymentAttack.Ransomin bitcoin to allow the victims to access their data .
Businesses that failed to update Windows-based computer systems that were hit by a massive cyber attack over the weekend could be sued over their lax cyber security , but Microsoft itself enjoys strong protection from lawsuits , legal experts said . The WannaCry worm has affected more than 200,000 Windows computers around the world since Friday , disruptingAttack.Ransomcar factories , global shipper FedEx Corp and Britain 's National Health Service , among others . The hacking tool spreads silently between computers , shutting them down by encrypting data and then demanding a ransomAttack.Ransomof US $ 300 to unlock them . According to Microsoft , computers affected by the ransomware did not have security patches for various Windows versions installed or were running Windows XP , which the company no longer supports . `` Using outdated versions of Windows that are no longer supported raises a lot of questions , '' said Christopher Dore , a lawyer specializing in digital privacy law at Edelson PC . `` It would arguably be knowingly negligent to let those systems stay in place. ” Businesses could face legal claims if they failed to deliver services because of the attack , said Edward McAndrew , a data privacy lawyer at Ballard Spahr . `` There is this stream of liability that flows from the ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, '' he said `` That 's liability to individuals , consumers and patients , '' WannaCry exploitsVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitya vulnerability in older versions of Windows , including Windows 7 and Windows XP . Microsoft issuedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya security update in March that stops WannaCry and other malware in Windows 7 . Over the weekend the company took the unusual step of releasingVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya similar patch for Windows XP , which the company announced in 2014 it would no longer support . Dore said companies that faced disruptions because they did not run the Microsoft update or because they were using older versions of Windows could face lawsuits if they publicly touted their cyber security . His law firm sued LinkedIn after a 2012 data breachAttack.Databreach, alleging individuals paid for premium accounts because the company falsely stated it had top-quality cyber security measures . LinkedIn settled for US $ 1.25 million in 2014 . But Scott Vernick , a data security lawyer at Fox Rothschild that represents companies , said he was sceptical that WannaCry would produce a flood of consumer lawsuits . He noted there was no indication the cyber attack had resulted in widespread disclosure of personal data . `` It isn ’ t clear that there has been a harm to consumers , '' he said . Vernick said businesses that failed to update their software could face scrutiny from the US Federal Trade Commission , which has previously sued companies for misrepresenting their data privacy measures . Microsoft itself is unlikely to face legal trouble over the flaw in Windows being exploitedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityby WannaCry , according to legal experts . When Microsoft sells software it does so through a licensing agreement that states the company is not liable for any security breaches , said Michael Scott , a professor at Southwestern Law School . Courts have consistently upheld those agreements , he said . Alex Abdo , a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University , said Microsoft and other software companies have strategically settled lawsuits that could lead to court rulings weakening their licensing agreements . `` This area of law has been stunted in its growth , '' he said . `` It is very difficult to hold software manufacturers accountable for flaws in their products . '' Also enjoying strong protection from liability over the cyber attack is the US National Security Agency , whose stolen hacking tool is believed to be the basis for WannaCry . The NSA did not immediately return a request for comment . Jonathan Zittrain , a professor specializing in internet law at Harvard Law School , said courts have frequently dismissed lawsuits against the agency on the grounds they might result in the disclosure of top secret information . On top of that , the NSA would likely be able to claim that it is shielded from liability under the doctrine of sovereign immunity , which says that the government can not be sued over carrying out its official duties . `` I doubt there can be any liability that stems back to the NSA , '' Dore said .
In an attack predicted by cyber security experts for months , a yet unknown actor or actors integrated the EQUATIONGROUP APT exploits leaked by ShadowBrokers in a worldwide ransomware worm attackAttack.Ransom, infecting tens of thousands of endpoints in a matter of hours . On Friday , May 12 , a new ransomware , called WannaCry , began circulating throughout the United Kingdom and Spain , rapidly infecting over 45,000 exposed servers at healthcare , financial , and other business sectors . This ransomware stood out for several reasons , including being the largest ransomware attackAttack.Ransomin history , and the first widely spread ransomware worm . The ransomware infection is Version 2.0 of WanaCypt0r ( also known as WCry , WannaCry , and WannaCryptor ) . Unlike previous instances , this version takes advantage of the SMB vulnerability outlined in Microsoft Security Bulletin ( MS17-010 ) . This vulnerability was first exploitedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityby the ETERNALBLUE malware , revealedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityby the ShadowBrokers leakAttack.Databreachin March , and targeted the Microsoft MS17-010 SMB vulnerabilities . SMB ( Server Message Block ) is a protocol primarily communicating on port 445 and is designed to provide access to shared resources on a network . Last fall , Microsoft propounded system administrators to disable SMB Version 1 on systems . According to a FBI FLASH Alert ( TLP : White ) received by Recorded Future , the WannaCry ransomware infects initial endpoints via a phishing campaign or compromised RDP ( remote desktop protocol ) . Once the ransomware gets into a network , it spreads quickly through any computers that don ’ t have the patch applied . The worm-like capabilities are the new feature added to this ransomware . During the May 12 attack , two of the most significant targets were Telefonica , the Spanish telecommunications giant , and the United Kingdom ’ s National Health Service . In the United States , the shipping firm FedEx was hit by the ransomware . Infections of the new version of WannaCry started in Spain early on May 12 , but quickly spread to the United Kingdom , Russia , Japan , Taiwan , the United States , and many more . In total , almost 100 countries were affected by the attack . New instances of this ransomware worm dramatically decreased following the activation of a “ kill-switch ” in the ransomware . A security researcher going by the Twitter handle @ MalwareTechBlog noted an unregistered domain ( www.iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea [ . ] com ) in a sample of the malware . WannaCry checked to ensure non-registration of the domain at some point prior to infection . According to the researcher , this was likely intended as a way to prevent analysis of the malware in a sandbox . If the domain is registered , WannaCry exits the system , preventing further infection . While this doesn ’ t benefit victims already infected , it does curb further infection . Additionally , according to security researcher Didier Stevens , WannaCry isn ’ t proxy aware , so enterprises utilizing a proxy won ’ t benefit from the “ kill-switch. ” Spora ransomware , which began circulating in January of this year , is a ransomware noted for its sophistication , including top-notch customer support to victims , and was likely created by professional malicious actors . Research in Recorded Future identified an early warning bulletin on WannaCry published on May 5 , 2017 by the Spanish CERTSI ( Computer Emergency Response Team for Security and Industry ) . The CERTSI bulletin cited numerous ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomusing WannaCry targeting on equipment . It appears Russian cyber criminals were equally perplexed by the WCry campaignAttack.Ransomas the rest of the world . One of the members of the popular underground community complained about the recently purchased Virtual Private Server ( VPS ) which was almost immediately infected by ransomware even before the system update was completed . At least three separate Bitcoin wallets , controlled by unknown criminals were identified as part of the ransomware campaign . As of this writing , little over 15 Bitcoins or approximately $ 26,000 were deposited to wallets controlled by unknown criminals . In the Reference section of the WCry Intel Card , we see this factsheet posted towards a GitHub page where security researcher Mark Lee helpfully wrote a running compilation of information on WannaCry ransomware . Early identification of these types of resources during an evolving situation can greatly assist a security analyst gain insight to the nature of the threat and crowdsource solutions .
Since last Friday , over 200,000 victims in 150 countries have been hitAttack.Ransomby a massive , international ransomware cyberattackAttack.Ransomcalled WannaCry . Ransomware is a type of malware that works by seizing control of and blocking access to a computer ’ s files , programs , and operations . Users are then informed that they must payAttack.Ransoma certain amount in order to regain access to their files , with the threat of permanently losing all of their data if they choose not to payAttack.Ransom. In the WannaCry attackAttack.Ransom, users were given three days to make the paymentAttack.Ransombefore the fee increased , and seven days before the files would be lost forever . The massive scope and potential financial impact of the WannaCry attackAttack.Ransomhas understandably caused a lot of panic , and companies and individuals alike have been rushing to protect their devices . However , this frenzy has opened up new damaging routes for fraud . One of these attack routes is through mobile applications that have been found on third-party application stores . There are various mobile applications advertising that they can be used to protect users from the WannaCry ransomware . However , our analysts found that some of these apps contained adware meant to infect the devices they are downloaded onto . Rather than protecting users ’ devices , they are causing them harm . The adware found is classified as Adware.mobidash , which is a module that attackers used to include into Android games and apps and monetize them . This adware has the capability to load webpages with ads , show other messages in the status bar , and modify the DNS server . This is quite dangerous as the real risk lies in the fact that the end user ’ s device is performing unwanted activity without their authorization . To hide this dangerous behavior , the adware doesn ’ t start to perform its malicious activity immediately ; instead , it lies latent in the device before activating after a short period of time . We have blogged a lot about digital trust , fake news , and all sorts of tricksAttack.Phishingthat criminals use to get the attention of consumers to get them to click on a link . Yet we continue to be amazed by how sophisticated the manipulation of the human factor has become . It will only be a matter of time until we see the WannaCry malware expand further to trickAttack.Phishingend users into installingVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya patch that allegedly prevents the new massive ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. However , this time it will not be a patch , but a new version or variant of a financially motivated malware .
Cyber security experts reveal they have found a second massive computer virus which has affected hundreds of thousands of computers world-wide , like the WannaCry cyber attackAttack.Ransomlast week , has affected hundreds of thousands of computers world-wide and may have North Korean origins . This second global hack exploits the same Microsoft vulnerabilities as the WannaCry attackAttack.Ransomand it is estimated to have infected more than 200,000 computers . The full scale of this attack , however , is still being determined due to the fact the attack is on-going . Preliminary analysis by California-based cyber security firm Proofpoint , which revealed the existence of this more subtle virus , suggests “ that this attack may be larger in scale than WannaCry ” , the company said in an online statement . Unlike last week ’ s attack which infected more than 300,000 computers since last Friday , this second cyber attack is thought to have begun either in late April or early May , but it had avoided being detected until recently , said Proofpoint researchers . Computers infected by this second virus do not have their functions altered , nor are their files encrypted . Instead , they manufacture digital currency . Proofpoint said the virus installs the Adylkuzz currency “ miner ” – a sort of malware which hijacks a computer ’ s processing power to solve complex math problems and earn digital money . There exists several different kinds of online currencies , the most famous being Bitcoin . But this second attack is designed to generate a newer form of digital cash called Monero . Monero offers enhanced anonymity features and is the currency of darknet market place AlphaBay . Experts also believe the currency has been pursued by North Korea-linked hacker groups . Proofpoint estimates this relatively unobtrusive computer virus generated more than a million euro – much more than what the WannaCry hackers extortedAttack.Ransomfrom their ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. A North Korean hacker group called the Lazarus Group is thought to be behind last week ’ s massive ransomware attackAttack.Ransomand now it is thought a segment of this hacker group may be behind the currency mining attack . Kapersky Lab , a cyber security firm , said a segment of the Lazarus group had installed software on a European server in early April to mine Monero currency , said Reuters . Proofpoint executive Ryan Kalember , speaking to Reuters , said he believes these two attacks are “ more than coincidence ” . “ It ’ s a really strong overlap ” , he told Reuters . “ It ’ s not like you see Monero miners all over the world . ”
Cyber security experts reveal they have found a second massive computer virus which has affected hundreds of thousands of computers world-wide , like the WannaCry cyber attackAttack.Ransomlast week , has affected hundreds of thousands of computers world-wide and may have North Korean origins . This second global hack exploits the same Microsoft vulnerabilities as the WannaCry attackAttack.Ransomand it is estimated to have infected more than 200,000 computers . The full scale of this attack , however , is still being determined due to the fact the attack is on-going . Preliminary analysis by California-based cyber security firm Proofpoint , which revealed the existence of this more subtle virus , suggests “ that this attack may be larger in scale than WannaCry ” , the company said in an online statement . Unlike last week ’ s attack which infected more than 300,000 computers since last Friday , this second cyber attack is thought to have begun either in late April or early May , but it had avoided being detected until recently , said Proofpoint researchers . Computers infected by this second virus do not have their functions altered , nor are their files encrypted . Instead , they manufacture digital currency . Proofpoint said the virus installs the Adylkuzz currency “ miner ” – a sort of malware which hijacks a computer ’ s processing power to solve complex math problems and earn digital money . There exists several different kinds of online currencies , the most famous being Bitcoin . But this second attack is designed to generate a newer form of digital cash called Monero . Monero offers enhanced anonymity features and is the currency of darknet market place AlphaBay . Experts also believe the currency has been pursued by North Korea-linked hacker groups . Proofpoint estimates this relatively unobtrusive computer virus generated more than a million euro – much more than what the WannaCry hackers extortedAttack.Ransomfrom their ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. A North Korean hacker group called the Lazarus Group is thought to be behind last week ’ s massive ransomware attackAttack.Ransomand now it is thought a segment of this hacker group may be behind the currency mining attack . Kapersky Lab , a cyber security firm , said a segment of the Lazarus group had installed software on a European server in early April to mine Monero currency , said Reuters . Proofpoint executive Ryan Kalember , speaking to Reuters , said he believes these two attacks are “ more than coincidence ” . “ It ’ s a really strong overlap ” , he told Reuters . “ It ’ s not like you see Monero miners all over the world . ”
The National Security Agency warnedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityMicrosoft about a vulnerability in Windows after a hacker group began to leak hacking tools used by the agency online , the Washington Post reported late Tuesday . The vulnerability has been the center of attention in recent days , following the outbreak of the global “Wanna Cry” ransomware attackAttack.Ransomthat crippled Britain ’ s hospital system and has spread to at least 150 countries . The ransomware is widely believed to be based on an alleged NSA hacking tool leaked by the group Shadow Brokers earlier this year . The government has not publicly acknowledged that the NSA developed the tool . “ NSA identified a risk and communicated it to Microsoft , who put outVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityan immediate patch , ” Mike McNerney , a former Defense Department cybersecurity official , told the Post . McNerney said , however , that no top government official emphasized the seriousness of the vulnerability . Microsoft issuedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya patch for its supported systems in March , weeks before Shadow Brokers released the exploit , but many computer systems around the world remained unpatched , leaving them vulnerable to the latest ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. The ransomware campaign has been less devastating to the United States than other countries , but has affected some American companies including FedEx . The events have renewed debate over the secretive process by which the federal government decides whether to discloseVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitya zero-day vulnerability to the product ’ s manufacturer , as well as spurring scrutiny of the NSA . Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith said Sunday that the ransomware attackAttack.Ransomshould serve as a “ wake-up call ” to governments not to hoard vulnerabilities . On Wednesday , a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would codify what is known as the vulnerabilities equities process into law , bringing more transparency and oversight to it . View the discussion thread .
University College London , one of the world 's leading universities , has been hit by a major cyber-attack . The university describes it as a "ransomware" attackAttack.Ransom, such as last month 's cyber-attack which threatened NHS computer systems . The attack was continuing on Thursday , with access to online networks being restricted . The university has warned staff and students of the risk of data loss and `` very substantial disruption '' . University College London ( UCL ) is a `` centre of excellence in cyber-security research '' , a status awarded by the GCHQ intelligence and monitoring service . The central London university , ranked last week in the world 's top 10 , says that a `` widespread ransomware attackAttack.Ransom`` began on Wednesday . It was first blamed on so-called `` phishing '' emails , with links to destructive software . But later the university suggested it was more likely to be from contact with a `` compromised '' website , where clicking on a pop-up page might have spread a malware infection . Ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomare where computer systems are locked and threatened with damaging software unless paymentsAttack.Ransomare made . Students and staff were warned that `` ransomware damages files on your computer and on shared drives where you save files '' and were told not to open any suspicious attachments . The university says that it believes the risk of further infection has been contained , but it is urging staff and students to help with efforts to reduce any `` further spread of this malware '' . Universities , which often carry out commercially sensitive research , have become frequent targets for cyber-attacks . `` However , what makes this attack interesting is the timing , '' said Graham Rymer , an ethical hacker and research associate at the University of Cambridge . `` Hackers tend to target people who will be desperate to get accessAttack.Databreachto their data and are , therefore , more likely to pay the ransomAttack.Ransom. `` Currently there are a lot of students who will be putting the final touches to their dissertations , so it could be that they were the targets . '' Mr Rymer said UCL seemed to have responded well to the attack and had `` locked it down pretty well '' . `` One thing UCL did is to quickly switch all drives in the system to `` read-only '' following the attack , which essentially prevented the malware from doing real damage . '' Mr Rymer said UCL may not have been the only intended target as he had seen other businesses facing the same malware . Last month , the National Health Service in England and Scotland was subject to a significant ransomware cyber-attackAttack.Ransom, as part of a global wave of attacks .
A second UK university has been hitAttack.Ransomby a major ransomware attackAttack.Ransomthis week , as new figures showed the country is the most frequently targeted by the malware in Europe . The attackAttack.Ransomappears to have struck Northern Ireland ’ s Ulster University on the same day a ransomware outageAttack.Ransomaffected University College London ( UCL ) . Ulster Uni ’ s Information Services Division ( ISD ) revealed yesterday that its AV partner suspects a zero-day threat was the cause , also echoing the current thinking at UCL . Three departmental file shares have been affected and remained at “ read only ” access at the time of writing . Like its counterparts at UCL , Ulster University ’ s ISD appears to be following best practice regarding back-ups , which will help mitigate the impact of the attack . It explained : “ ISD take backups of all our shared drives and this should protect most data even if it has been encrypted by the malware . Once we are confident the infections have been contained , then we will restore the most recent back up of the file . ISD can confirm that a backup of the shares was successfully taken at close of business on Tuesday 12th June. ” Fraser Kyne , EMEA CTO at Bromium , urged all UK university IT teams to be on high alert for possible attacks . “ The initial reports are suggesting that the ransomware was able to get in at UCL through a zero-day exploit , which allowed it to bypass antivirus software , ” he added . “ That really underscores the limitations of antivirus ; in that it is only able to stop things that it knows are bad . Given that most malware is only seen once in the wild before it evolves into something different , there ’ s very little that antivirus can offer in the way of protection. ” UCL now believes the initial infection vector was a user visiting a compromised website rather than opening a phishing email attachment as first thought . The latest stats from Malwarebytes show the UK is the hardest hit in Europe when it comes to ransomware . There were three-times as many detections in the UK in Q1 2017 than the next most impacted country : France . In fact , while ransomware infections dropped 4 % across Europe they increased 57 % in the UK year-on-year . The total volume of cyber-attacks on UK firms soared 500 % year-on-year , with no single threat type declining . Across Europe , Italy and the UK were almost tied as having the highest number of malware detections in Europe ; 16.3 % and 16.2 % respectively .
The first reported instance of a cyber attack on a utilities provider will happen this year . That ’ s according to Perry Stoneman , Global Head of Utilities at consulting firm Capgemini , who told ELN it would likely take the form of a ransomware attackAttack.Ransom. This is when computer systems are hacked by criminals who then demandAttack.Ransoma sum of money to avoid a major city having its power cut off . Mr Stoneman believes the hackers would want their attack to be “ visible , attention-catching and newsworthy ” – turning the lights out is just that . He said : “ It could be something more malicious than just wanting money . Mr Stoneman told ELN although the risks do increase as energy systems become more dependent on technology , the main reason the threat is growing is because there are larger numbers of hackers with more advanced skills than ever before .
Officials based at the City of Del Rio , in Texas , were forced to abandon electronic services and switch to pen and paper after a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomeffectively closed down City Hall servers . City representatives disclosed the cyberattack last week . The city was struckAttack.Ransomby the ransomware on Thursday , leading to all servers being disabled to prevent further spread . Del Rio 's Management Information Services ( MIS ) department then attempted to isolate the malware by turning off all Internet connections for other city departments . In turn , this prevented any members of staff from logging into government systems . As a result , employees of each department were forced to use pen and paper in their work and go back to manual entry for transactions taking place -- as and when they could considering there was no access to historical records -- while the ransomware was contained . City officials have informed the FBI of the cyberattack and the Secret Service has now become involved in attempts to find out who is responsible . It is not known at present who is behind the ransomware , what kind of malware is at fault , or whether or not any personal data has been compromisedAttack.Databreach. The Texan city has also not revealed how much the ransomware demanded in paymentAttack.Ransom, as is usually the case with this particular form of malware . RansomsAttack.Ransomare usually requested in return for a decryption key -- which may or may not work -- in order to unlock encrypted systems and restore access . However , a Del Rio City Hall spokeswoman did reveal that the malware is somewhat unusual , as the ransom note posted to roughly 30 - 45 PCs contained a phone number to be used to pay the blackmailAttack.Ransomfee . Most of the time , a note will be posted on a landing page containing instructions for paying ransomAttack.Ransomin cryptocurrency and victims will be given a wallet address , rather than a means to directly call the malware 's operator . `` The City is diligently working on finding the best solution to resolve this situation and restore the system , '' an official statement reads . `` We ask the public to be patient with us as we may be slower in processing requests at this time . ''
Media Prima Berhad 's computer systems have been locked out by cyber attackers who are demandingAttack.Ransommillions of ringgit in ransomAttack.Ransom. The media company , which runs a stable of TV and radio channels , newspapers , advertising and digital media companies was hit by a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomlast 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 paidAttack.Ransom. The report , quoting a source , said the attackers are demandingAttack.Ransom1,000 bitcoins to release access to the computer systems . This means that the attackers are demanding a ransomAttack.Ransomof 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 hitAttack.Ransomby 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 breachedAttack.Databreach, and whether the media group would be suffering financial losses due to the ransomware attackAttack.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 ransomAttack.Ransom.
Recent attacks against insecure MongoDB , Hadoop and CouchDB installations represent a new phase in online extortionAttack.Ransom, born from ransomware ’ s roots with the promise of becoming a nemesis for years to come . First spotted on Dec. 27 by Victor Gevers , an ethical hacker and founder of GDI Foundation , attacks in the past two months shot up from 200 to near 50,000 . The first of these ransom attacksAttack.Ransomagainst insecure databases traces back to a hacker identified as Harak1r1 , who Gevers said was responsible for compromising open MongoDB installations , deleting their contents , and leaving behind a ransom note demandingAttack.Ransom0.2 BTC ( about $ 220 at the time ) . After that , escalation of attacks against open MongoDB installations happened fast , jumping from hundreds one week , to 2,000 the next , and 10,000 the following week . At last count more than 56,000 open MongoDB databases alone are ripe for attack , according to the most recent numbers available from GDI Foundation . But that doesn ’ t include a slew of new databases now being targeted by cybercriminals . Security researchers at Rapid7 estimate that 50 percent of the 56,000 vulnerable MongoDB servers have been ransomedAttack.Ransom. In a typical ransomware attackAttack.Ransom, an attacker compromises a computer via malware or Trojan and encrypts local data that can only be unlocked with an encryption key obtained for a price . That spurred a maturing of ransomware used against more sophisticated healthcare , government and educational targets with similar phishingAttack.Phishing, malware and Trojan techniques . However , experts say , both have acted as the stepping stones to this type of data hijacking . With data hijacking , attackers compromise insecure database installations , copy data , then delete the contents and leaving behind a ransom note in the form of a directory name demanding a ransomAttack.Ransombe paidAttack.Ransomvia Bitcoin . Rapid7 has already seen additional databases such as Redis , Kibana and other SQL databases targeted in its honeypots . Josh Gomez , senior security researcher with security firm Anomali , said moving forward attacks will be less random , more targeted and seek high-value repositories with weak protection .