Mathew J. Schwartz reports: Not all ransomware groups wield crypto-locking malware. In their continuing quest for extortionate profits, some have moved away from encryption and pressure victims purely by threatening to leak stolen data unless they receive a ransom payment. This seems to have been the case for BianLian, a prolific ransomware group that emerged…
Category: Malware
Has Oakland been hit with a second ransomware attack? (1)
As the public knows by now, Oakland, California was hit with a ransomware attack by the Play ransomware gang on February 8, and has been struggling since then to recover. Data from the attack started to be leaked on March 4. Play leaked about 10 GB of files, compressed, and threatened to leak more if…
Dish Network updates on ransomware attack
Mike Robuk reports: Dish Network stated it reinstated the ability customers of its Boost Mobile brand to access account information as it provided an update on its bid to recover from a cyberattack in February. The operator last week explained Boost Mobile subscribers can pay their bills online, at stores and through apps. Dish Network remains tight-lipped…
Four months after cyberattack, CHC Montlégia hospital system still offline
Seen in an article on The Brussels Times about risks to hospitals of cyberattacks: Last November the CHC Montlégia in Liège was also the victim of a cyberattack. Nearly four months later, its computer system is still offline. The only thing I could find on that was this February article on how the CHC was…
Lansing Community College dealing with “cybersecurity incident”
On March 16, Amaya Kuznicki reported: A cyberthreat shutdown Lansing Community College for the rest of the week. The school is working with the FBI, a cyber insurance response team, and the Michigan Cyber Command Center to solve the problem. LCC posted on social media Thursday that classes will not be in session Friday, but…
RAT developer arrested for infecting 10,000 PCs with malware
Bill Toulas reports: Ukraine’s cyberpolice has arrested the developer of a remote access trojan (RAT) malware that infected over 10,000 computers while posing as game applications. “The 25-year-old offender was exposed by employees of the Khmelnychchyna Cybercrime Department together with the regional police investigative department and the SBU regional department,” reads the cyberpolice’s announcement. Read more…