ransom

DNA and ancestry site 23andMe has admitted nearly 7 million customers are affected by a data breach. Both the breach itself and the way the site organizes its data contributed to what could be a legal disaster for the company. 23andMe is named after ... the number of segments of DNA that people share with each parent. The service involves customer submitting a DNA sample to be used either to check for genetic health conditions, get information about ancestry such as ethnic origin, or both. Customers can also agree to be put in touch with other customers when a DNA match suggest a possible family ... (view more)

A man who was part of a hacking gang that stole medical records and tried to blackmail an accounting company has been sentenced to five years in prison. Nathan Wyatt was a member of a group calling themselves The Dark Overlord. British-born Wyatt ... had previously been extradited to the United States. He was charged with conspiracy against the US, threatening damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identify theft. Originally Wyatt pleaded not guilty. He later changed his plea to guilty on the conspiracy charge and received a five year prison sentence and ordered to pay $1,467,048 in ... (view more)

A new form of ransomware named after a Marvel super villain has some particularly evil features. The Thanos malware uses an approach more reminiscent of "physical world" blackmail. Despite the name, the malware thankfully doesn't imitate the ... character Thanos by - spoiler alert - deleting half the files in the entire universe. That said, it's still quite scary thanks to a couple of features beyond the usual tactic of encrypting files and demanding a ransom. Instead, the ransomware also seeks to spread across an entire local network and encrypt all the computers it can reach. This is especially ... (view more)

Researchers have spotted new ransomware with a nasty new twist. "Clop," as it's called, doesn't just encrypt files, but deliberately attempts to screw up applications as well. The move is most likely intended to reduce the chances of the ransomware ... being blocked, but also means an attack could be even more disruptive and make it more likely a complete rebuild of the affected PC is necessary. Normally ransomware's main task is to encrypt as many files as possible on a computer. The idea here is to extort the user by forcing them to pay a ransom to regain access to the locked files. ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Tina A. writes: " Dear Dennis, I've been reading articles on the Internet about cyber criminals breaking into computer networks, encrypting files and then demanding a ransom. I've also read that if I leave my computer connected to ... the Internet, I could be susceptible to ransomware. I don't know what to believe. So my question is: is ransomware a threat? Is ransomware malware? Should I be worried? " My response: This is a pretty big question to answer. The simple answer is that: yes , ransomware is a threat, and yes you can get infected with ransomware just by having your ... (view more)

Around 465,000 pacemakers have been 'recalled' over hacking fears. However, the St Jude Medical brand devices will be patched with a software update rather than removed and replaced. The pacemakers are radio controlled to allow doctors to alter the ... specific rhythm they aim for when regulating a heart beat. This radio control means doctors can adjust to the patients changing needs without the need to remove the pacemaker for alterations. That's important as the surgery for such a removal is inherently risky. No Signs Of Hack Attacks While the precise details haven't been revealed for obvious ... (view more)

Security researchers say its highly likely hackers linked to North Korea were responsible for the recent widespread WannaCry ransomware attack . The same group, dubbed Lazarus, was previously blamed for two other high profile online attacks. ... According to security firm Symantec, the WannaCry attacks bore five distinct hallmarks of previous attacks thought to be the work of the Lazarus group. This includes shared code such as that used to spread the malware from machine to machine. Other common factors include the same IP address being used to issue commands to infected machines, and similar ... (view more)

Beginning Friday, May 12, 2017, reports surfaced of a new Internet worm capable of infecting Windows machines instantaneously. The worm has been dubbed "WCRY" or "WannaCry" because of its malicious intent to install ransomware on the target machine. ... The Internet worm was made possible because of a leaked NSA (national security agency) document which essentially explained how to carry out the exploit. In this case, the malicious software locks computers such that their files are encrypted and cannot be accessed unless the victim pays a ransom (and the culprits then stand by ... (view more)

Four police departments in Maine have paid $300 to cybercriminals after being hit by so-called " ransomware ". Officials say they weighed up their response and decided they had no real choice but to pay up. Ransomware is a form of malicious software ... which restricts access to certain parts of a computer it infects. Victims then see on-screen messages stating that a ransom must be paid to regain access . In most cases, cybersecurity experts warn against paying such ransoms for three reasons. Firstly, it may mean getting added to a "suckers list" that can be sold on to other ... (view more)

A new report from security firm ESET finds that the TorrentLocker ransomware scam has now encrypted an estimated 285 million files. Unfortunately, ESET security experts don't see the rate of infections dropping off any time soon. A TorrentLocker ... infection, like other ransomware schemes (such as CryptoWall or CryptoLocker ), usually takes place when a victim downloads a malicious file. Although the name TorrentLocker might suggest infections come through the way of torrents (a file typically used for file sharing), it does not; in fact, most TorrentLocker infections come through email. ... (view more)