Tag Archive for: 23rd

The Week in Ransomware – October 23rd 2020

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Ransomware

This week has been busy with ransomware related news, including new charges against Russian state-sponsored hackers and numerous attacks against well-known organizations.

In 2017, there was an attack utilizing the NotPetya ransomware to destroy data on systems worldwide. This week, the US govt indicted six Russian intelligence operatives, known to be part of the notorious ‘Sandworm’ group, for hacking operations, including NotPetya.

We also learned of numerous attacks against large organizations, such as Barnes & Noble, the Monreal public transit system (STM), Sopra Steria, and Boyne Resorts.

Contributors and those who provided new ransomware information and stories this week include: @DanielGallagher, @demonslay335, @VK_Intel, @BleepinComputer, @Seifreed, @PolarToffee, @serghei, @jorntvdw, @struppigel, @fwosar, @malwareforme, @Ionut_Ilascu, @LawrenceAbrams, @FourOctets, @malwrhunterteam, @ValeryMarchive, @Sophos, @BrettCallow, @thepacketrat, @Kangxiaopao, @siri_urz, @MarceloRivero, @JakubKroustek, @Glacius_, and @GrujaRS

October 17th 2020

New Dharma ransomware variants

Jakub Kroustek found new Dharma ransomware variants that append the .Crypt and .LCK extension to encrypted files.

New Pransomware ransomware

@Glacius_ found a copy of BlackKingdom ransomware that was renamed to Pransomware.

Pransomware

October 18th 2020

New STOP Djvu ransomware variant

Michael Gillespie found a new STOP ransomware variant that appends the .efji extension to encrypted files.

October 19th 2020

US indicts Russian GRU ‘Sandworm’ hackers for NotPetya, worldwide attacks

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged six Russian intelligence operatives for hacking operations related to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the 2017 French elections, and the notorious NotPetya ransomware attack.

New Vaggen Ransomware

Marcelo Rivero found a new ransomware named Vaggen that appends the .VAGGEN extension and drops ransom notes named ABOUT_UR_FILES.txt and AboutYourFiles.txt.

Vagget

October 20th 2020

Darkside ransomware donates $20K of extortion money to charities

The operators of Darkside ransomware have donated some of the money they made extorting victims to nonprofits Children International and The Water Project.

Source…

This Week In Techdirt History: November 17th – 23rd

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Five Years Ago

This week in 2014, the incoming head of the House Intelligence Committee was… Devin Nunes, talking about how surveillance reform is unnecessary — though former CIA/NSA Director Michael Hayden was saying that only ISIS would benefit from the proposed USA Freedom Act, and a defense official was telling the intelligence community to grow up and stop blaming Ed Snowden, and a former NSA executive was claiming he challenged bulk phone records collection but was rebuffed. The USA Freedom Act did fail to pass the Senate this week, but for stupid reasons.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2009, old-school journalists were busy getting mad about the internet, while clinging to things like optimistic studies where people say they’d pay for online news. The MPAA and Sony Pictures were backing down after shutting down a town’s wifi over a single movie download the previous week, but the MPAA was still waging war on DVRs and being joined by the cable industry, while Sony Pictures announced its best box office year ever only a month after the CEO was moaning about piracy killing the movie business. Really, what holds back online entertainment business models was mainly legacy entertainment companies making it impossible for them to survive. But the copyright maximalists were pleased about how things were going in the UK, with Peter Mandelson proposing sweeping powers in the much-anticipated Digital Economy Bill aka copyright industry wish-list.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2004, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy emerged as an early example of a musician who understood the internet, and we took a bigger look at why user generated content should change how we view copyright. The MPAA officially moved ahead with its plan to follow in the RIAA’s footsteps by suing a bunch of John Doe file-sharers, and Hollywood was just getting started on the anti-DVR war that would continue for years by trying to have commercial skipping deemed illegal (and of all people, it was John McCain who recognized just how ridiculous this was). Meanwhile, Steve Ballmer made some FUD waves with his claim that anyone who uses Linux will be sued for patent infringement — which was quickly rebuffed by the author of the study he said the idea was based on.

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This Week In Techdirt History: June 23rd – 29th

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Five Years Ago

This week in 2014, the DOJ finally released its memo explaining its justification for extra-judicial drone strikes on American citizens, after a court firmly rejected attempts to bury it — and it was still full of ridiculous redactions and even pointed to a different still-secret memo. Meanwhile, the CIA was getting closer to releasing its torture report, while also being hit with lawsuits over its resistance to FOIA requests.

We also saw some good and some bad from the Supreme Court, with a ruling that law enforcement does need a warrant to search mobile phones, but also its infamous ruling against Aereo — which was quickly seized upon by Fox, even as Hollywood’s own press was able to see the problems.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2009, the RIAA was defending the huge award in the Jammie Thomas trial while artists like Moby and even one of the musicians whose work Thomas supposedly shared were speaking out against it. The Swedish appeals court found that there was no bias in the Pirate Bay verdict and denied a retrial, while a German politician defected for the Pirate Party in protest of his party’s support for an internet blacklist, and the recording industry was suing to force Irish ISPs to implement three-strikes programs (while Spain was rejecting a three-strikes proposal).

Fifteen Years Ago

More rapid change was on the horizon this week in 2004 as the web started to replace the library stacks as the best place to do research and folks were warming up to the idea of ditching their landlines for their mobile phones. Jack Valenti was trying to simultaneously deny and defend his infamous anti-VCR stance by rewriting history, Tiffany was suing eBay for not policing counterfeit items, the instant messaging wars were still raging with Yahoo again deciding to block the multi-platform IM app Trillian, SpaceShipOne officially made it to space for the first time (though not quite with the requirements to win the X-Prize), and domain speculators were gearing up for the election by buying all the Presidential candidate domain names they could think of.

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