BreachExchange mailing list archives
Ransomware hackers' new tactic: Calling you directly
From: Terrell Byrd <terrell.byrd () riskbasedsecurity com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2022 10:40:19 -0500
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/his-sons-school-was-hacked-then-the-ransomware-gang-called-him-at-home/ar-AAT7znc Wayne didn’t know his son’s school district had been hacked — its files stolen and computers locked up and held for ransom — until last fall when the hackers started emailing him directly with garbled threats. “we hold control on the network several months, so we had a ton of time to carefully study, exfiltrate the data and prepare attack,” one of the three emails he received said. If his son’s district, the Allen Independent School District in the Dallas suburbs, didn’t pay up, all its files, including information on him and his son, “would be released in the dark market,” the emails warned. It was a credible threat. Ransomware hackers frequently leak files of organizations that don’t meet their demands and have littered the dark web with school children’s personal information. What Wayne received, however, represented a newer tactic. Ransomware hackers, always in search of new ways to add pressure to organizations they extort, have increasingly roped in everyday people whose information is stored in computers they hacked, pestering them by phone and email to lobby the victim organization to pay. The hackers, who often work as loosely affiliated gangs with members in different countries, have made millions of dollars in recent years by attacking the computer networks of American companies, schools, hospitals and cities. Despite the Biden White House’s policies to slow their attacks, they were roughly as productive against U.S. targets last year as they were the previous two, successfully attacking more than 1,000 school districts and health care providers in 2021.
_______________________________________________ BreachExchange mailing list sponsored by Risk Based Security BreachExchange () lists riskbasedsecurity com If you wish to Edit your membership or Unsubscribe you can do so at the following link: https://lists.riskbasedsecurity.com/listinfo/breachexchange
Current thread:
- Ransomware hackers' new tactic: Calling you directly Terrell Byrd (Jan 27)