Muda69 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/08/rash-of-ransomware-continues-with-13-new-victims-most-of-them-schools/ Quote As investigations into a massive, coordinated ransomware attack against local governments in Texas continues, 13 new victims of ransomware attacks have been publicly identified. Most of them are school districts, thought the victims also include an Indiana county, a hospice in California, and a newspaper in Watertown, New York. The ransomware involved in the Texas attacks, which hit 22 local-level government entities, has not yet been identified. Multiple sources have suggested that the Texas attacker gained access through a managed service provider that the local governments all had in common, but that has not been confirmed by state officials. In the case of this latest batch of attacks, Ryuk ransomware has been identified as the malware used on at least three occasions. The victims, based on data collected by the threat research group at cloud security firm Armor, include: Lake County, Indiana Rockville Center School District in Rockville, New York Moses Lake School District in Moses, Washington Mineola Public Schools in Mineola, New York The Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey New Kent County Public Schools in New Kent, Virginia Nampa Idaho School District, Nampa, Idaho Middletown School District, Middletown, Connecticut Wolcott Public Schools, Wolcott, Connecticut Wallingford School District, Wallingford, Connecticut New Haven Public Schools, New Haven, Connecticut The Watertown Daily Times in Watertown, New York Hospice of San Joaquin, San Joaquin, California Pay after pay According to a report in Newsday, the Rockville Center School District initially received a ransom demand of $176,000. The district's insurance company negotiated with the ransomware operator, reducing the payout to $88,000. The school district paid a deductible of $10,000. There's no word on whether other victims have paid the ransom yet. .... Paying these ransoms only makes the problem worse. If these entities had a robust, scalable backup/recovery strategy such ransomware could be wiped and their systems up and running in a matter of hours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteEstonia Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 On 8/30/2019 at 10:03 AM, Muda69 said: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/08/rash-of-ransomware-continues-with-13-new-victims-most-of-them-schools/ Paying these ransoms only makes the problem worse. If these entities had a robust, scalable backup/recovery strategy such ransomware could be wiped and their systems up and running in a matter of hours. Those systems cost $$$$. We actually had a phishing exercise done the other day. I wonder how many of my colleagues passed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 8 hours ago, DanteEstonia said: Those systems cost $$$$. We actually had a phishing exercise done the other day. I wonder how many of my colleagues passed? Did you pass? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteEstonia Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 3 hours ago, Muda69 said: Did you pass? I did, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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