Ransomware Now Targeting Schools, Hospitals and Churches
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 02/27/2016 07:04 AM
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The cybercriminals have figured out that ransomware works. Even the FBI suggests victims pay the ransom. So it is no surprise that the hackers are spreading out their attack targets.
A school in South Carolina was recently attacked and student and personnel records were encrypted. The hackers have demanded $8,500, again in Bitcoin, which the school district is in the process of acquiring.
The Superior Court of Pima County, Arizona, was struck by a similar attack. It is believed that an employee downloaded the malware. The IT department was luckier than the school district in that it was able to isolate the malware and restore their files from backups.
The Community of Christ Church in Hillsboro, Oregon, paid up $570 this week to decrypt its data. In spite of paying the ransom, the pastor of the church is still finding files that are still encrypted.
The trend is not just happening in America. A hospital in Germany was recently hacked. The ransomware made its way into the system and encrypted patient data. A hospital spokesperson commented: “We then pulled the plug on everything. Computers, servers, even the email server, and we went offline.” Although it is causing a major disruption, the hospital is fortunate in that it has backups of all of its data. A ransom demand has not yet been received.
Just two days later another German hospital, this time in North Rhine-Westphalia, fell victim to a similar strain of ransomware. It also has backup files.
All of this is just a huge reminder that companies, as well as individuals, need to keep backups of all important files. As in the case of The Community of Christ Church, the decryption promised by ransomware doesn’t always occur when the ransom is paid.
Source: Digital Trends
A school in South Carolina was recently attacked and student and personnel records were encrypted. The hackers have demanded $8,500, again in Bitcoin, which the school district is in the process of acquiring.
The Superior Court of Pima County, Arizona, was struck by a similar attack. It is believed that an employee downloaded the malware. The IT department was luckier than the school district in that it was able to isolate the malware and restore their files from backups.
The Community of Christ Church in Hillsboro, Oregon, paid up $570 this week to decrypt its data. In spite of paying the ransom, the pastor of the church is still finding files that are still encrypted.
The trend is not just happening in America. A hospital in Germany was recently hacked. The ransomware made its way into the system and encrypted patient data. A hospital spokesperson commented: “We then pulled the plug on everything. Computers, servers, even the email server, and we went offline.” Although it is causing a major disruption, the hospital is fortunate in that it has backups of all of its data. A ransom demand has not yet been received.
Just two days later another German hospital, this time in North Rhine-Westphalia, fell victim to a similar strain of ransomware. It also has backup files.
All of this is just a huge reminder that companies, as well as individuals, need to keep backups of all important files. As in the case of The Community of Christ Church, the decryption promised by ransomware doesn’t always occur when the ransom is paid.
Source: Digital Trends
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