Security News > 2022 > July > Maastricht University wound up earning money from its ransom payment
Maastricht University, a Dutch university with more than 22,000 students, said last week that it had recovered the ransom paid after a ransomware attack that hit its network in December 2019.
One week later, on December 30, the university decided to pay the ransom to have its files decrypted after deciding that rebuilding all infected systems from scratch or creating a decryptor were not viable options.
UM said at the time that it paid a 30 bitcoin ransom for the ransomware decryptor, which allowed the university to avoid delaying exams and losing all the research, educational, and staff data, as well as info on salary payments for approximately 4,500 employees.
As UM recently revealed, in a "Remarkable development," the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service traced and seized a wallet containing the cryptocurrency paid by the university as ransom in 2019.
Although this might seem like the university made a considerable profit within a relatively short time, the €500,000 seized by law enforcement agents represents significantly less than the damage inflicted during the ransomware attack.
These seized funds are now in a bank account under the control of the Netherlands' Public Prosecution Service, and the Ministry of Justice has already initiated legal proceedings to transfer them to UM. After recovering the money, UM Executive Board said it wants to create a fund that would allow the university to help students in need.