Numlock News: June 30, 2020 • Ransom, Octopus, Fake Gold
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By Walt Hickey Ransom The University of California, San Francisco was the victim of a punishing ransomware attack on June 1, but what makes this different from most is a reporter got a front row seat to the tense negotiations that happened in a darkweb livechat subsequently as administrators sought to recover control of their system. First, the hackers demanded $3 million, at which point the rep from UCSF — who may have been an outside specialist brought in to work the negotiation — countered with $780,000. After a day of back and forth, UCSF said it had scrounged together $1.02 million, but the hackers were holding firm, refusing to go a buck under $1.5 million. The University then rifled through enough couch cushions to come up with
Numlock News: June 30, 2020 • Ransom, Octopus, Fake Gold
Numlock News: June 30, 2020 • Ransom…
Numlock News: June 30, 2020 • Ransom, Octopus, Fake Gold
By Walt Hickey Ransom The University of California, San Francisco was the victim of a punishing ransomware attack on June 1, but what makes this different from most is a reporter got a front row seat to the tense negotiations that happened in a darkweb livechat subsequently as administrators sought to recover control of their system. First, the hackers demanded $3 million, at which point the rep from UCSF — who may have been an outside specialist brought in to work the negotiation — countered with $780,000. After a day of back and forth, UCSF said it had scrounged together $1.02 million, but the hackers were holding firm, refusing to go a buck under $1.5 million. The University then rifled through enough couch cushions to come up with