Zero-Day Warning! Ransomware targets Microsoft Office 365 Users

If just relying on the security tools of Microsoft Office 365 can protect you from cyber attacks, you are wrong. Variants of Cerber Ransomware are now targeting MS Office 365 email users with a massive zero-day attack that has the ability to bypass Office 365's built-in security tools. According ...

New CryptXXX Can Evade Detection, Outsmart Decryption Tools

Tweet Crooks behind the fast spreading CryptXXX ransomware updated the latest variant with better encryption technology and new methods to evade detection by researchers. This latest version of CryptXXX was spotted by researchers at SentinelOne that say the new updated sample has already earned...

RAA Ransomware Composed Entirely of JavaScript

We’ve already seen ransomware take on many forms this year, but researchers this week claim they’ve noticed a new strain unlike any they’ve seen prior–a type composed entirely of JavaScript. The ransomware, dubbed RAA by researchers, has been circulating through attachments masquerading as Word...

University of Calgary Pays $20,000 Following Ransomware Attack

Officials at the University of Calgary admitted this week that the school recently paid $20,000 CDN to rid its systems of ransomware that hampered productivity for 10 days. Linda Dalgetty, the school’s VP of Finance and Services, acknowledged via press release on Wednesday that the school paid th...

IC3 Warns of Extortion Email Schemes

The Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3 has issued an alert on extortion schemes that relate to recent high-profile data thefts. Fraudsters often use the news release of high-profile data breaches to scare victims into clicking on a link or paying a ransom. US-CERT encourages users and...

Ransomware Activity Spikes in March, Steadily increasing throughout 2016

UPDATE June 15, 2016: This post has been updated to include new data on ransomware activity, which is also now broken down by region. Cyber extortion for financial gain is typically carried out in one of two ways. The first method is a business disruption attack – a category we discussed at lengt...

Malware-Laced Porn Apps Behind Wave of Android Lockscreen Attacks

Incidents of Android lockscreen malware masquerading as porn apps are a growing concern to security analysts who are forecasting an uptick in attacks. Once infected, Android users bitten by this malware appear to be locked out of their device and are forced to undergo a complex extraction of the...

Petya Ransomware Installs Mischa As Failsafe

The Petya ransomware strain signaled a new escalation for crypto-malware when it surfaced in March. For the first time, ransomware went beyond encrypting files on local and shared drives and instead set its sights on locking up the Master File Table on compromised machines. Petya did have its...

FBI Issues Ransomware Warning

The FBI has issued a warning to businesses about the relentless wave of ransomware. The bulletin includes preventative tips, and an affirmation of the bureau’s stance that companies affected by cryptoransomware attacks in particular should not succumb to temptation and pay their attackers off. Th...

DDoS Extortionists made $100,000 without Launching a Single Attack

In Brief Cyber crooks find a new and ingenious way to make hundreds of thousands of dollars with no effort. An unknown cyber gang, pretending to be Armada Collective, has made more than $100,000 in less than two months simply by threatening to launch DDoS attack on websites, but never actually...

US, Canada Issue Ransomware Advisory

Ransomware clearly has people on many fronts worried, so much so that the United States and Canada took an unprecedented step last week to issue a joint advisory on the threat posed by crypto-ransomware. The U.S. Cyber Emergency Response Team together with the Canadian Cyber Incident Response...

SamSam: This New Breed Of Ransomware Targets Hospitals

Hackers are escalating recent attacks against hospitals with new strains of server-side ransomware dubbed SamSam and Maktub. Unlike traditional ransomware samples that rely on gullible users to click on a malware-infected email attachment or visit a booby-trapped website, this new breed of...

Locky Ransomware Causes 'Internal State of Emergency' at Kentucky Hospital

For a strain of ransomware that’s only been in the wild for a little more than a month, Locky has sure been able to make a name for itself. The malware gained notoriety last month when it confounded administrators at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles and apparently took...

CTB-Locker Ransomware Spreading Rapidly, Infects Thousands of Web Servers

Ransomware has steadily evolved over the past decade, moving from isolated attacks on individual computers to wider campaigns that disrupt entire services. Families such as Cryptowall and Locky showed how quickly file-encrypting malware could spread across Windows systems. Researchers are now...

ProtonMail Back Online Following Six Day DDoS Attack

Encrypted email service ProtonMail is back online today following a crippling six-day attack that saw the company’s ISPs and data centers under siege. Operators behind the service said the site may not always be reachable, as its servers are still under heavy strain and mitigating attack, and tha...

ProtonMail Paid Hackers $6000 Ransom in Bitcoin to Stop DDoS Attacks

The Geneva-based encrypted email service ProtonMail was forced to pay a Ransom of almost $6,000 to stop sustained Denial-of-service DDoS attacks that have knocked its service offline since Tuesday. ProtonMail – a full, end-to-end encrypted email service that launched last year – has been dealing...

CryptoWall Ransomware raised $325 Million in Revenue for Its Developer

The Creators of the notorious CryptoWall ransomware virus have managed to raise more than $325 million £212 million in this past year alone. Ransomware has emerged as one of the biggest cyber threats to web users in recent times. Typically, hackers primarily gain access to a user's computer syste...

TalkTalk Hackers Demand Ransom of CEO Dido Harding

Update The U.K.’s Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit this afternoon arrested a 15-year-old Northern Ireland boy in connection with the TalkTalk hack. The teen is alleged to have violated the Computer Misuse Act, a police statement said. He is being questioned at the County Antrim police station...

FBI Warns of Increase in DDoS Extortion Scams

Online scammers constantly are looking for new ways to reach into the pockets of potential victims, and the FBI says it is seeing an increase in the number of companies being targeted by scammers threatening to launch DDoS attacks if they don’t pay a ransom. The scam is a variation on a theme, th...

IC3 Issues Alert on DDoS Extortion Campaigns

The Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3 has issued an alert to U.S. businesses about a rise in extortion campaigns. In a typical incident, a business receives an e-mail threatening a Distributed Denial of Service DDoS attack to its website unless it pays a ransom. Businesses are warned against...