Items tagged with Ransomware
In May of last year, Colonial Pipeline was struck by a ransomware attack, prompting the Colonial Pipeline Company to take certain systems offline in an attempt to contain the attack. As a result, all pipeline operations were temporarily halted, shutting off the flow of fuel to the eastern seaboard. Shortly thereafter...
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Ransomware can be both disruptive and costly for its victims. A recent report found that the total downtime resulting from ransomware attacks in 2021 cost schools a whopping $3.56 billion. The sudden encryption of data on computer systems critical to an organization’s regular operations presents a major problem when...
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Ransomware attacks have been on the rise. This time around, the small Ontario, Canada town of St. Marys has been targeted. The ransomware organization behind the attack seems to be LockBit. So far though, no ransom has been paid. The town itself claims that most city functions are still operational and staff are still...
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We cover both ransomware and Elden Ring fairly regularly here at HotHardware, but it’s a sad day when those two things meet. The ransomware attacks that often receive the most coverage are those that disrupt major supply lines and infrastructure, raising national security concerns. However, ransomware gangs carry out...
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A cybersecurity report published last month revealed the passwords most commonly used by business owners and executives, and topping this list were “123456” and “password.” The commonality of such remarkably weak passwords among not just ordinary users, but high-ranking executives of large corporations is almost...
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It's a new era and there's a new bully in schools. A financial bully to the school administrations, at least. That bully is ransomware, and he's an annoying jerk.
Ransomware is an ever increasing threat that most recently has affected schools, governments, hospitals, and even individual users. This particular type...
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Shortly after hitting Parker Hannifin Corporation, a major component supplier for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the Conti ransomware group abandoned the Conti name and split off into smaller groups that coordinate with the larger group’s leadership. This move came after Conti targeted the government of Costa Rica with...
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Ransomware is bad news not only because it can cause business-ending disruptions, as in the case of Abraham Lincoln College, but also because the actors behind ransomware attacks often exfiltrate data from compromised systems in addition to encrypting the data on said machines. Ransomware gangs tend to use this stolen...
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The prevalence of ransomware attacks is rising year-over-year at a rapid pace, with 2021 marking a doubling in the number of reported attacks over 2020. As ransomware attacks have become a prominent and lucrative form of cyberattack, a market has developed for cybercriminals to buy and sell ransomware. Some of these...
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Windows updates are typically supposed to patch security holes, add new features, improve performance, increase stability, or offer some combination of all those things. They're not supposed to leave your PC in worse shape then before they were installed, though that sometimes happens. That's the case right now for...
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Ransomware attacks are unfortunately now very common. Most attackers demand that their victims pay them money (almost always in cryptocurrency) to get their files back. However, one group has adopted a rather unique approach. The GoodWill ransomware group insists that its victims perform and document acts of...
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In what seems to be the year of security breaches and threat actors thieving or or holding data for ransom, defenders, or blue teamers, cannot seem to catch a break. However, just after announcing that it had hit a major component supplier for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, it appears that the Conti ransomware gang as we...
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The beginning of the year saw a flurry of stories about security breaches as the cybercriminal gang known as LAPSUS$ stole data from an alarming number of big name companies in a short period of time. However, while LAPSUS$ is no longer in operation, after the London police arrested all seven members of the group...
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Lately, cybercriminals have been using Telegram to sell malware and other malicious tools as a service. Last month we reported on a Telegram bot that makes automatic phone calls to steal multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes. The Telegram bot gives bad actors an easy-to-use interface for placing scam phone calls and...
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Ransomware attacks are growing rapidly in prevalence. The number of ransomware attacks in 2021 doubled over that of 2020, which already saw a doubling over 2019. Some of the most notable ransomware attacks have struck vital infrastructure and supply chains. However, ransomware attacks aren’t limited to these sectors...
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We all know that it is bad luck to cross a black cat. This particular black cat should make you run in the opposite direction. The FBI recently confirmed that the BlackCat ransomware compromised at least 60 organizations worldwide.
The breaches occurred between November 2021 and March 2022. BlackCat/ALPHV...
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News broke on February 25th that NVIDIA had been hit by a cyber-attack. The LAPSUS$ ransomware gang took responsibility for the attack the next day, but also claimed that NVIDIA hit them back with its own ransomware. However, NVIDIA’s counterstrike seems not to have disabled LAPSUS$ access to the data it stole nor has...
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Just yesterday, we reported on The Telegraph's report claiming that NVIDIA had suffered a cyber-attack. NVIDIA didn't provide any details, but the company's statement that it was "investigating an incident" was admission enough. As it stood last night, it seemed clear something had happened, but we didn't know...
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A number of cybersecurity experts and teams have recently released reports going over cybersecurity data from 2021 and detailing the growing ransomware threat. We covered a report revealing which industries and countries were hit the most by ransomware, as well as a report that ransomware attacks doubled in...
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Having entered a new year, cybersecurity experts, researchers, and companies are reflecting on 2021 and assessing the state of cybersecurity so that we can better understand and prepare for threats going forward. Unfortunately, the outlook going forward into 2022 seems pretty disheartening as far as ransomware is...
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It felt like we were constantly reading about data compromises last year. Unfortunately, this statement is not far from the truth. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), there were 1,862 data compromises in 2021. The overall number of data compromises was up by 63% from 2020 and the number of...
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There’s a new White Rabbit on the loose. While it does involve hackers, it’s got nothing to do with Neo. Instead, it’s yet another new ransomware family that recently appeared, targeting financial institutions.
Possibly a side operation of the FIN8 hacking group, White Rabbit was recently used to attack a US bank...
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