As many as 1,500 businesses around the world have been affected by a ransomware attack centered on a U.S. information technology firm.
The attack, was carried out by REvil, a group of Russian-connected hackers believed to operate inside that country, struck a software company Kaseya and demanded $70 million in bitcoin after locking accounts of their clients.
The Russia-connected REvil, is best known for previously having hacked JBS, one of the world's largest meat suppliers, briefly halting its operations across much of North America.
The demand was posted by REvil cybercrime gang on their blog. David Hickton, Founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security, tells KDKA Radio's Lynne Hayes-Freeland "We don't know yet the full dimensions of this attack but some are estimating that it is the widest and deepest cyber ransomware attack in history and we'll see."
The ransomware problem is not really new, but as it gets more and more prolific and costs more and more, and downstream consequences like inability to do your work, or as with the colonial gas line hack that we can't get gas to the gas stations, people are paying a lot more attention now, says Mr. Hickton.
Pres. Biden told reporters the attack "appears to have caused minimal damage to U.S. businesses but we're still gathering information…I'm going to have more to say about this in the next several days."
