Reading Time: ~ 2 min.
Ransomware Closes Arizona School District
As many students began returning for the fall semester, classes
were cancelled in the Flagstaff Unified School District in Arizona after a ransomware
attack disabled some of the district’s computer systems. Officials haven’t
yet released any additional information on the ransom demanded or if any
sensitive employee or student documents was compromised. The attack is another
in a chain of ransomware campaigns affecting dozens of school districts around
the country in recent months.
Want more on the latest threats to your online security and privacy? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date.
BEC Scam Targets Toyota Corporation
A subsidiary company of Toyota
fell victim to a business email compromise (BEC) that could cost more than $37
million. Using social engineering to convince the victim to send the wire
transfer has become a common practice around the world and earned scammers an
estimated $1.3 billion in 2018 alone. Officials are still working to determine
the proper course of action to recover the stolen funds, though it is unlikely
they will be able to track down their present location.
International BEC Sting Nets 281 Arrests
With the cooperation of many law enforcement agencies around
the world, at least 281
individuals were taken into custody for their roles in various BEC scams.
Along with the arrests, officials seized $3.7 million in cash that had been stolen
by redirecting wire transfers while posing as a high-level executive. While the
majority of arrests came from Europe and Africa, nearly a quarter occurred in
the U.S.
LokiBot Campaign Affects U.S. Manufacturer
A poorly written email phishing campaign was recently discovered
with a rather malicious payload called LokiBot.
In the scam, once a victim would open the attachment (with assurances in the
email that it simply needs to be reviewed), an archive would unzip and allow the
payload to begin hunting for credentials and any other sensitive information stored
on the system. After reviewing the LokiBot sample, the IP address from which the
campaign originated from has been tied to several other, similar campaigns from
recent months.
Oklahoma State Trooper Pension Fund Stolen
Malicious hackers recently stole more than $4.2 million from
the Oklahoma State Trooper’s pension
fund, which was to be used to assist roughly 1,500 retired law enforcement
agents in the state. While most of the benefits programs should remain
unaffected, officials are confident that they will be able to recover the
funds, which would also be covered by insurance company if unable to be
recovered.
The post Cyber News Rundown: Arizona School Ransomware Attack appeared first on Webroot Blog.