Security News > 2021 > May > Axa insurance offshoots pwned as Ireland reveals second ransomware hit

The murky world of ransomware criminals is all aflutter after it was revealed that Ireland's health services were hit by a second attack hot on the heels of one that took out its hospitals, while ransomware insurance refusenik Axa was itself hit with ransomware after its French branch vowed to stop buying off criminals on behalf of its customers.

French-headquartered insurance company Axa suffered ransomware attacks against four of its subsidiaries in east Asia, according to the Financial Times.

A fortnight ago Axa HQ in Paris had vowed to stop selling new policies to French customers that allowed for ransomware operators to be given handsome payoffs in return for decryption utilities, or promises that victims' stolen data was deleted.

Ransomware payoffs through insurance are contributing to the boom in this uniquely cyber-enabled form of crime.

While the timing appears to raise a wry smile, the FT reckoned that the HQ policy change happened well after the attack on Axa Partners, which only came about after a ransomware gang posted snippets of stolen files on its Tor-hosted blog.

After credulous news outlets breathlessly amplified the criminals' demand for a $20m ransom, it emerged that a second attack, seemingly launched by the same gang, had failed to get a foothold in Ireland's Department of Health, the government ministry that oversees the HSE. The National Cyber Security Centre of Ireland published a PDF update which said: "Malicious cyber activity was also detected on the Department of Health network early on Friday morning, however due to the deployment of tools during the investigation process an attempt to execute ransomware was detected and stopped."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/05/17/ransomware_roundup/