Dennis Fisher writes: The string of ransomware attacks against state and local government agencies that began to ramp up a couple years ago is continuing unabated, and the attackers in some incidents are becoming quite aggressive with their ransom demands. […] Data collected by security firm Barracuda on ransomware attacks shows that there were 55…
Category: Malware
No municipality paid ransoms in ‘coordinated ransomware attack’ that hit Texas
Catalin Cimpanu reports: A coordinated ransomware attack hit 22 Texas local governments, but none of the impacted municipalities paid ransom demands, Texas state officials said this week. Three weeks after the incident took place, the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) said that more than half of the impacted entities are now back to operations…
Thousands of servers infected with new Lilocked (Lilu) ransomware
Catalin Cimpanu reports: Thousands of web servers have been infected and had their files encrypted by a new strain of ransomware named Lilocked (or Lilu). Infections have been happening since mid-July, and have intensified in the past two weeks, ZDNet has learned. Read more on ZDNet.
School officials: Ransomware prompts school closure in Flagstaff (updated)
No specific details about type of ransomware or any ransom demands, but schools are closed in Flagstaff, AZ today due to a ransomware attack that impacted a number of systems needed for day-to-day operations. Video news clip here: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/video/601919 Update of Sept. 6: Still no specifics as to what type of ransomware, but the district…
Ransomware gang wanted $5.3 million from US city, but they only offered $400,000
Catalin Cimpanu reports: A ransomware gang tried to extract a ransom payment of an unheard-of sum of $5.3 million from the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, but the city chose to restore from backups after hackers rejected a smaller counter-offer of only $400,000. The incident happened in early July, but details were kept under wraps…
CT: Police investigate attempted Sherman School data breach
Kendra Baker reports: State Police are investigating the discovery of ransomware on Sherman School computer servers last month. Ransomware is a software designed to deny access to data or a computer system until a ransom is paid. The malware was found in the school’s computer system Aug. 16, said Jeff Melendez, superintendent-principal of the Sherman…