Graham Cluley writes: The City of Florence in northern Alabama has agreed to pay a ransom of US $300,000 worth of Bitcoin to hackers who compromised its computer systems and deployed ransomware. At an emergency meeting this week, the Florence City Council unanimously voted to give in to the extortionists’ demands and pay the cybercriminals…
Category: Government Sector
Russia says Germany has not provided any evidence of Bundestag hack
Earlier this week, I linked to an item stating that Germany is urging its fellow European Union governments to impose the bloc’s first-ever sanctions for hacking. The incident involved Dmitri Badin, a Russian suspect in the 2015 cyberattack on the German parliament. Catalin Cimpanu subsequently reported: Russian officials said this week that German authorities have…
Knoxville ransomware attack shutters parts of city website
Teri Robinson reports: A ransomware attack took out parts of the Knoxville city website but did not compromise personal or financial information. The Tennessee city’s public safety operations were spared, Knoxnews cited Chief Operations Officer David Brace, deputy to the mayor, as saying. Brace said the fire department discovered the attack but didn’t disclose the amount or…
eHealth ransomware attack potentially catastrophic for Saskatchewan health card holders
Now, five months later, eHealth admits it still doesn’t know exactly what information was taken, who took it, where it went or what it’s being used for. And that is a recipe for disaster. CBC News reports: The bad guys slipped the virus into the eHealth Saskatchewan computer system on Dec. 20. For the next…
Germany Seeks EU Sanctions for 2015 Cyberattack on Its Parliament
Catherine Stupp reports: Germany is urging its fellow European Union governments to impose the bloc’s first-ever sanctions for hacking on a Russian suspect in the 2015 cyberattack on the German parliament. An EU sanctions framework for cyberattacks took effect last year, allowing the imposition of travel bans to the EU and the freezing of bank…
(UPDATED) AL: Florence city computer systems hit by cyber attack
Update: After you read the news report below, do read Brian Krebs’ report on how he had warned them that DoppelPaymer operators had compromised one of their Windows 10 systems. The city thought it dodged the bullet after responding to his alert. They hadn’t. WAFF in Alabama reports: The city of Florence confirms its computer…