A press release from Europol: While the world is in the grip of a coronavirus outbreak, another virus is quietly wreaking havoc. Although this virus has been around for years, its cases have been rising alarmingly in the past few months and has brought critical activities such as hospitals and governments to a standstill. This…
Category: Malware
Inside “Phobos” Ransomware: “Dharma” Past & Underground
Bridgit Sullivan writes: Phobos is a type of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) ransomware that was first seen in October 2017 but became increasingly active in 2019. Also referred to as Phobos NextGen or Phobos Not Dharma, Phobos ransomware is extremely similar to the Dharma and Crysis ransomware family due to the same Dharma codebase. It…
Blackbaud believes your data is safe from further misuse. Do you?
You may have seen a number of headlines from schools and non-profits disclosing that their students or donors’ information was impacted by a May, 2020 ransomware incident at UK software firm, Blackbaud. According to Blackbaud’s notice: Prior to our locking the cybercriminal out, the cybercriminal removed a copy of a subset of data from our…
A vigilante is sabotaging the Emotet botnet by replacing malware payloads with GIFs
Catalin Cimpanu reports: An unknown vigilante hacker has been sabotaging the operations of the recently-revived Emotet botnet by replacing Emotet payloads with animated GIFs, effectively preventing victims from getting infected. The sabotage, which started three days ago, on July 21, has grown from a simple joke to a serious issue impacting a large portion of the Emotet…
Keizer discloses costs of recovering from recent ransomware attack
When Keizer, Oregon was attacked in June with ransomware, the attackers demanded $48,000, and the city paid. Now Keizer Times reports that the costs of recovering city data and preventing future digital strikes have already exceeded $60,000. Among the costs, which will be detailed more at a later date: — To handle negotiations with the…
VA sending letter to 1,501 Montana vets about business associate ransomware incident
The Great Falls Tribune reports: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration on Thursday announced actions taken to protect veterans’ personal information following a recent privacy breach involving files from the Montana VA Health Care System. Officials said they were notified June 4, by former contractor Benefits Recovery Specialists Inc. of “a data…