ransomware

Subscribe to ransomware via RSS

In the wake of increased ransomware attacks over the course of the last several months, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has updated a guidance it released last year on potential sanction risks if facilitating ransomware payments. As indicated in the original guidance, OFAC has designated several threat actors as “malicious cyber attackers,” including the developers of Cryptolocker, SamSam, WannaCry, and Dridex. OFAC has indicated that it will impose sanctions on those who financially (or otherwise support) these actors, including by making ransomware payments to them. Sanctions can range from non-public (for example No Action Letters or Cautionary Letters) to public actions (including for example payment of civil monetary penalties).
Continue Reading Do You Have a Risk-Based Sanctions Compliance Program?: In the Event of a Ransomware Attack, OFAC Wants to Know

This is not a drill.

Companies and law enforcement agencies around the world have been left scrambling after the world’s most prolific ransomware attack hit over 500,000 computers in 150 countries over a span of only 4 days. The ransomware – called WannaCry, WCry, WannaCrypt, or WannaDecryptor – infects vulnerable computers and encrypts all of the data. The owner or user of the computer is then faced with an ominous screen, displaying a countdown timer and demand that a ransom of $300 be paid in bitcoin before the owner can regain access to the encrypted data. The price demanded increases over time until the end of the countdown, when the files are permanently destroyed. To date, the total amount of ransom paid by companies is reported to be less than $60,000, indicating that companies are opting to let their files be destroyed and to rely instead on backups rather than pay the attackers. Nevertheless, the total disruption costs to businesses is expected to range from the hundreds of millions to the billions of dollars.
Continue Reading WannaCry Ransomware Alert