John Dyer has a report on ransomware with some interesting statistics: An October study by Cisco Systems’ Talos security unit estimated that unnamed hackers using Angler Exploit — just one of a handful of commonly used ransomware bugs — netted $60 million annually. In December, a Kaspersky Lab report found that ransomware infections doubled last year compared to 2014….
Category: Malware
Hackers hold German hospital data hostage
DW reports that the ransomware problem we’ve seen here and in Australia has also hit German hospitals: It probably came down to a swift response that averted major damage in the Lukas Hospital in Germany’s western city of Neuss. One morning, hospital staff noticed the system wasn’t running smoothly anymore. There were error messages popping…
NZ health board hit with ransomware
Sophie Ryan reports: Whanganui District Health Board has been targeted by hackers who infected its computers with a “ransomware” attack. […] Whanganui District Health Board’s information and communications technology manager Barry Morris said the threat from Locky had been contained and no ransom was paid to the hackers. Read more on New Zealand Herald.
Spec’s Liquor Store Chain Suing Insurer Over 2014 Breach
And while we’re talking about data breach litigation…. In March, 2014, Spec’s Family Partners disclosed that 34 of its stores had been hit by a breach that exposed customer data from October 2012 through March 20, 2014. The “small percentage” of customers affected turned out to be approximately 550,000 customers and employees. Now Law360 is reporting…
Wendy’s accused of negligence after alleged data breach
So on January 27, Brian Krebs revealed that Wendy’s was looking into whether it had been breached. By February 8 – a long delay by today’s standards – a potential class action lawsuit was filed by attorneys for Jonathan Torres in the Middle District of Florida. Robbie Hargett of Legal Newsline has more on the lawsuit:…
Horry County Schools approves paying computer virus ransom
WBTW reports that a South Carolina school district is paying a ransom demand because they have no way to access 25 servers with elementary school data after their system was locked up by ransomware: The Horry County school system remains locked out of several servers after a ransom computer virus got into the system last week. Charles…