Yesterday, Al.com reported a ransomware attack on Mobile County, Alabama: The county, in a statement released to the media Wednesday, confirmed it discovered a malware affecting “certain systems.” The infection occurred last week and prompted the county to shut down its system for about three days, according to Mobile County Commissioner Connie Hudson. […] Broussard…
Category: Breach Incidents
Steamship Authority hit by ransomware attack
Tony Fay reports: Passengers going to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard via the Steamship Authority may have to deal with possible delays Wednesday, due to a ransomware attack. The ferry service posted on their official Twitter account Wednesday that the attack is affecting their operations, and that a team of IT professionals is currently working to…
IA: Union Community School District publicly silent after threat actors dump files on dark web
In a year when they were already dealing with COVID-19 and then accusations that a teacher had improper emails with students, Union Community School District in Iowa found itself with a third major challenge — a ransomware attack. But whereas the district has publicly acknowledged and discussed its response to the first two challenges, they…
Babuk re-organizes as Payload Bin, offers its first leak
At the end of April, threat actors known as Babuk indicated that they were closing up shop and switching to a different model: Babuk changes direction, we no longer encrypt information on networks, we will get to you and take your data, we will notify you about it if you do not get in touch…
How to Negotiate with Ransomware Hackers
Rachel Monroe has an interesting profile of a ransom negotiator in The New Yorker. But the piece also provides an answer to a puzzling claim in a blog post by REvil that referred to fraudulent middlemen. When the negotiator hired by a victim entered the chat, they discovered that someone had already been negotiating with…
Secret Chats Show How Cybergang Became a Ransomware Powerhouse
There’s an interesting piece by Andrew E. Kramer, Michael Schwirtz and Anton Troianovski in the New York Times: Secret Chats Show How Cybergang Became a Ransomware Powerhouse. The reporters obtained access to the internal dashboard that DarkSide customers used to organize and carry out ransom attacks and their piece provides some insights as to how DarkSide “support” dealt with…