Security News
To date, the No More Ransom repository of ransomware decryptors has helped more than 6 million victims recover their files, keeping nearly a billion euros out of the hands of cybercriminals, according to a Monday release. Launched five years ago, No More Ransom is maintained via cooperation between the European Cybercrime Centre and several cybersecurity and other types of companies, including Kaspersky, McAfee, Barracuda and AWS. Its purpose is to keep victims from handing over the cash that helps fuel more ransomware attacks, according to Europol.
No More Ransom is celebrating its 5th anniversary and the project says it has helped more than 6 million ransomware victims recover their files and prevented cybercriminals from earning roughly $1 billion. No More Ransom is a joint effort of law enforcement and cybersecurity companies whose goal is to help victims of ransomware attacks recover their files without having to pay the ransom demanded by criminals.
The No More Ransom project celebrates its fifth anniversary today after helping over six million ransomware victims recover their files and saving them almost €1 billion in ransomware payments. "The decryptors available in the No More Ransom repository have helped more than six million people to recover their files for free," the Europol said.
Rather, it's about why victims still pay for a key needed to decrypt their systems even when they have the means to restore everything from backups on their own. Experts say the biggest reason ransomware targets and/or their insurance providers still pay when they already have reliable backups is that nobody at the victim organization bothered to test in advance how long this data restoration process might take.
Amidst the massive supply-chain ransomware attack that triggered an infection chain compromising thousands of businesses on Friday, new details have emerged about how the notorious Russia-linked REvil cybercrime gang may have pulled off the unprecedented hack. The Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure on Sunday revealed it had alerted Kaseya to a number of zero-day vulnerabilities in its VSA software that it said were being exploited as a conduit to deploy ransomware.
The REvil ransomware gang is increasing the ransom demands for victims encrypted during Friday's Kaseya ransomware attack. With Friday's attack on Kaseya VSA servers, REvil targeted the managed service providers and not their customers.
The new name is a tongue-in-cheek combination of the Russia-linked Fancy Bear advanced persistent threat and North Korea's Lazarus Group. According to Proofpoint, this time around the gang has been sending threatening, targeted emails to various organizations, including those operating in the energy, financial, insurance, manufacturing, public utilities and retail sectors - asking for a two-Bitcoin starting ransom if companies want to avoid a crippling DDoS attack.
Meat processing company JBS on Wednesday confirmed it paid extortionists $11 million in bitcoins to regain access to its systems following a destructive ransomware attack late last month. "In consultation with internal IT professionals and third-party cybersecurity experts, the company made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated," JBS USA said in a statement, with CEO Andre Nogueira adding the firm made the "Very difficult decision" to prevent any potential risk for its customers.
The world's largest meat processing company says it paid the equivalent of $11 million to hackers who broken into its computer system late last month. Brazil-based JBS SA said on May 31 that it was the victim of a ransomware attack, but Wednesday was the first time the company's U.S. division confirmed that it had paid the ransom.
A pipeline company CEO on Tuesday defended his decisions to abruptly halt fuel distribution for much of the East Coast and pay millions to a criminal gang in Russia as he faced down one of the most disruptive ransomware attacks in U.S. history. Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount said he had no choice, telling senators uneasy with his actions that he feared far worse consequences given the uncertainty the company was confronting as the attack unfolded last month.