Hackers ‘demand US$70 million’ after mass ransomware attack
- Latest mass attack impacts thousands of businesses around the world
- Russian-based hackers have been blamed for a string of ransomware attacks
The hackers suspected to be behind a mass ransomware attack that affected hundreds of companies worldwide demanded US$70 million to restore the data, according to a posting on a dark website.
The demand was posted on a site typically used by the REvil cybercrime gang, a Russia-linked group that is counted among the cybercriminal world’s most prolific extortionists.
The gang has an affiliate structure, occasionally making it difficult to determine who speaks on the hackers’ behalf, but Allan Liska of cybersecurity firm Recorded Future said the message “almost certainly” came from REvil’s core leadership.
REvil’s ransomware attack, which the group executed on Friday, was among the most dramatic in a series of increasingly attention-grabbing hacks.
The gang broke into Kaseya, a Miami-based information technology firm, and used their access to breach some of its clients’ clients, setting off a chain reaction that quickly paralysed the computers of hundreds of firms worldwide.
Cybersecurity experts swiftly blamed REvil for the attack. Sunday’s statement was the group’s first public acknowledgement that it was behind it.