WBTW reports that a South Carolina school district is paying a ransom demand because they have no way to access 25 servers with elementary school data after their system was locked up by ransomware: The Horry County school system remains locked out of several servers after a ransom computer virus got into the system last week. Charles…
Category: Malware
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid $17,000 ransom to unlock their system (updated)
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has issued a statement concerning the malware attack and ransom demand recently reported in the media. According to a statement issued today, reports of a $3.6M ransom were inaccurate. The full text of their statement follows. Note that they do not state how the malware got on their system. They may…
Jacksonville law firm victim of ransomware
Max Marbut reports: You might think the data stored on your computer at home or work is relatively safe from theft or even tampering. You would be wrong. No one knows that better than attorney Thomas Brown of The Brown Firm. […] The culprits left behind a digital message: Give them $2,500 and they would…
IRS Statement on E-filing PIN Attack
Feb. 9 – The IRS recently identified and halted an automated attack upon its Electronic Filing PIN application on IRS.gov. Using personal data stolen elsewhere outside the IRS, identity thieves used malware in an attempt to generate E-file PINs for stolen social security numbers. An E-file pin is used in some instances to electronically file…
UK: Lincolnshire council shuts down all IT after malware attack (UPDATE1)
Update: The Independent is reporting that there’s been a £1 million ransom demand attached to this incident. Five days later, the council’s database is still down, it seems. Alexander J. Martin reports: A 0-day security breach at Lincolnshire County Council has exposed locals’ medical records, addresses, and bank details, claimed an anonymous tipster, though the council denies…
AU: Hack attack on a hospital IT system highlights the risk of still running Windows XP
Robert Merkel writes: A virus attack on the computer system of one of Melbourne’s largest hospital networks is cause for concern because it affected machines running Microsoft’s Windows XP, an operating system no longer supported by the software giant. A report this week in The Age said a “computer virus” has affected Windows XP systems across the…