Summary In 2021, cybersecurity authorities in the United States,[1][2][3] Australia,[4] and the United Kingdom[5] observed an increase in sophisticated, high-impact ransomware incidents against critical infrastructure organizations globally. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the National Security Agency (NSA) observed incidents involving ransomware against 14 of the 16 U.S….
Category: Malware
UK: ‘Human error’ let criminals hack SEPA’s systems with £42m unaccounted for
David Bol reports: Scotland’s auditor general has revealed that a huge cyber attack on the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) was carried out after “human error” allowed criminals to access systems. Sepa suffered a huge ransomware attack on Christmas Eve in 2020 which led to around 1.2GB of data, amounting to at least 4,000 files,…
Ransomware dev releases Egregor, Maze master decryption keys
Lawrence Abrams reports: The master decryption keys for the Maze, Egregor, and Sekhmet ransomware operations were released last night on the BleepingComputer forums by the alleged malware developer. […] Fast forward 14 months later, and the decryption keys for these operations have now been leaked in the BleepingComputer forums by a user named ‘Topleak’ who claims to be…
East Bay Community College Data Breached In Ransomware Attack
Shawn Taylor reports: Ohlone College was hacked in late January and the private information of some current and former students, staff and faculty was compromised, including Social Security and bank account numbers, according to school officials. The community college said in a Feb. 4 notice on its website and letters sent to students it had…
Puma hit by data breach after Kronos ransomware attack
The Kronos ransomware incident can’t seem to stay out of the news cycle. Not only has it disrupted payroll operations for numerous clients, leaving many employees without their correct weekly paychecks, but employee data has also been stolen. Sergiu Gatlan reports: Sportswear manufacturer Puma was hit by a data breach following the ransomware attack that hit…
NetWalker ransomware affiliate sentenced to 80 months in prison
Sergiu Gatlan reports an update to the prosecution of a Canadian NetWalker affiliate. The NetWalker site was seized in January, 2021, and at the same time, the U.S. announced the indictment of Vachon-Desjardins. Although they sought his extradition to the U.S., it appears that he pleaded guilty in Canada to charges stemming from crimes involving…