Ransomware Gets More Sophisticated

In early December, the city of Pensacola, Florida fell victim to a vicious ransomware attack, with a $1 million ransom demand.

In a typical ransomware attack, the criminals encrypt (or lock) files until the ransom payment is made. This attack turned out to be anything but typical ransomware.

The [attackers] amassed more than 32GB of data from the City of Pensacola’s infected systems. The [criminals] threatened to start releasing files if a $1 million payment wasn’t made.

This means the hackers turned up the heat by locking files while also exfiltrating that same critical data to use as a further negotiation tool.

This threat of release dramatically increases the potential harm from a ransomware attack.

Now, the city has a much larger challenge to face than typical ransomware. City officials are scrambling to get their systems back on-line while also trying to protect citizens from harm due to leaked data.

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Original article here.
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/leemathews/2020/12/31/ransomware-hackers-have-started-leaking-city-of-pensacola-data/#61eb029f994b]