Category: Dettol

1.) A ransomware gang named Medusa is asking for a ransom of $1,000,000 from the Minneapolis Public Schools and has threatened to leak sensitive details if the victim fails to pay the demanded sum on time. MedusaLocker is a new malware variant spreading in the wild since 2021 and has so far targeted educational institutions and two manufacturing firms of electronic products.

Now, the latest victim happens to be the Minneapolis Public School District and the educational institution has made it clear that it will never pay any ransom to the hackers as it has other plans to recover data by various means.

2.) Second is the news related to IceFire Ransomware that has been targeting Windows and Linux machines for the past weeks. SentinelOne security researchers have discovered that the file encrypting malware gang has exploited a vulnerability in IBM Aspera Faspex file sharing software and has, to date, targeted machines operating in Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and the UAE.

3.) Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started a fresh investigation on the ammunition maker Solar Group that manufacturers ammunition and gun parts for the Indian army. A few weeks ago, BlackCat aka Alphv ransomware group alleged to have stolen about 39GB data and demanded a sum from the victim. As it did not respond positively, the gang exposed about 5GB information related to explosives, missile heads, grenades, rockets, as well as propellants.

After a complaint was launched at a police station in Nagpur City, the case was transferred to CBI and a special probe has been launched to reach to the core of the incident.

4.) Next is the news related to a Canada-based company called Black & McDonald. According to a media update, someone launched a ransomware attack against the company that manufactures equipment for military and power plants.

Neal Kelly, the spokesperson for Ontario Power Generation, confirmed the news and assured that they would reveal more details about the incident after the preliminary inquiries were over.

 

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After two days in this month, the war between Ukraine and Russian will enter its second year after completing one full year. And to make things worse, the Putin led nation is also found launching digital attacks simultaneously on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine for the past six months.

Google, the internet giant of the world, has confirmed the news after releasing a joint report on this note with Mandiant.

Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has witnessed in its study a 250% raise in the percentage of attacks last year, i.e., 2022. And the surge was the highest when compared to the data available for the past two years.

Meaning, GRU (Russian Intelligence) was constantly testing by digitally intercepting the IT infrastructure of Ukraine since 2019. But it raised the intensity bar after launching attacks on the Zelensky led nation from early hours of February 24th 2022.

Mandiant, now a security subsidiary of the Alphabet Inc’s business, said that it observed more destructive cyber-attacks on Ukraine during the first 4-6 months of the past year when compared to the previous 8 years.

Disclosing the list, at least 8 wiper strains were found hitting Ukraine networks since March’22 and two ransomware variants were found targeting the government agencies led by the Volodymyr Zelenskyy led nation.

But all thanks to the Britain’s cyber army that has been training and protecting Ukraine’s cyber forces for the past 6-8 months, no big disruption or blockage to the digital services was observed.

NOTE 1- Although innocent citizens are suffering a lot from the war between Moscow and Kyiv, the leaders of both nations are disinterested in heading for peace talks. As Vladimir Putin is ready to head for the peace talk, only when west withdraws support to Ukraine. And on the other hand, Zelensky doesn’t want to talk with Putin, as his war mindset has claimed many innocent lives, including both army men and civilians.

NOTE2- Britain and France have already expressed their helplessness to help Zelensky as their ammunition resources are depleting. And so, the President of Ukraine is in talks with United States President Joe Biden to regain supply of funds, ammunition and essentials at least till May this year.

 

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