Ransomware Attack – Billionaire365

Canadian City Affected By Ransomware Attack To Pay The Hackers To Regain Access To Computer Systems

The Canadian city of Midland, in Ontario, has suffered a ransomware attack on its computer systems earlier this month, which has left all the city’s documents encrypted. Now, the city’s officials decided to pay the ransom in Bitcoin (BTC).

According to a press release published by the Midland People’s Council, the authorities, together with a group of cybersecurity experts, are carrying out the payment in Bitcoin (BTC) to the group of cybercriminals to get back the control over the town’s computer systems.

The press release doesn’t specify how much Bitcoin (BTC) the authorities of Midland will pay. However, the officials affirm that the city has an insurance policy that is created explicitly for this kind of situations.

“Under the guidance of cybersecurity experts, we have begun the process of paying the ransom in exchange for the decryption keys. Although not ideal, it is in our best interest to get the system back online as quickly as possible. The people had previously secured an insurance policy to cover such circumstances. Deciphering efforts are underway,” state the Midland Town Council.

Canadian city affected by a ransomware attack decided to pay the cybercriminals in Bitcoin (BTC)

The ransomware attack occurred on September 1st at 2 AM and took over the computer systems throughout the city of Midland, in Ontario, for 48 hours. Then, the majority of the administrative services became limited, even though the hackers did not affect critical systems such as waste management and fire response services, which could have endangered human lives.

Similarly, authorities say that this ransomware attack demanding for Bitcoin (BTC) took them by surprise as they were just planning to implement infrastructure changes to improve their systems’ security by the end of 2018. However, thanks to this unfortunate experience, informational security become a priority for the officials of the Canadian city of Midland, in Ontario.

The ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly popular in the world, as according to a study by Sophos, a British IT security firm, the creators of SamSam ransomware managed to raise $6 million from ransomware attacks. Also, one of the most potent ransomware of 2017, WannaCry, generated multimillion-dollar losses across Europe.

Anna Galvez

The Professional Golfers’ Association of America Is The Latest Victim Of A Bitcoin (BTC) Ransomware Attack

On the eve of the start of the 100th-anniversary championship, the Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) became the latest new victim of hackers, whose methodology is to seize sensitive information and ask for ransom in return. In this practice, it is widespread for cybercriminals to demand payments in Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies, in what is called a ransomware attack.

According to the specialized media, Golf Week, the attack was perpetrated on Wednesday, August 8th, when employees were unable to access the server. Instead, they received a message announcing the encryption of all files and threatening to make them unrecoverable from any attempt at decryption.

The attackers made it clear from the beginning that their target was Bitcoin (BTC) extortion

However, although the ransomware message includes the address of a Bitcoin (BTC) wallet, the hackers did not specify the amount of Bitcoin they wanted to get for unlocking the PGA servers.

However, according to an anonymous source, the Professional Golfers Association of America, the PGA, will not pay ransom for the archives, and that they took steps to ensure that the development of the anniversary championship won’t be impaired.

At the time of writing, no information has been released on the recovery of PGA servers or payment of the Bitcoin (BTC) ransom, the start of the PGA Championship 2018 tournament took place as usual.

Ransomware attacks involving cryptocurrency decline in popularity, while cryptojacking takes the lead

According to several studies carried out by various computer security companies worldwide, ransomware attacks involving cryptocurrency are declining in popularity, as the cybercriminals have gradually migrated to a more effective and lucrative business model, such as the use of hidden crypto mining malware. This method is known as cryptojacking and uses the computational power of victims’ devices to mine cryptocurrencies for the hackers.

A report released by Kaspersky Labs about a month ago confirmed the increase in cryptojacking attacks. Cybercriminals are developing increasingly sophisticated forms of crypto mining malware programs, using techniques such as file-free contamination or placing malware directly on routers.

Anna Galvez