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Ransomware Thieves Cost Canada University C$20,000 In Bitcoin (itworldcanada.com)
dkatana writes: The University of Calgary paid C$20,000 ransom this week after an attack on May 28 targeted computers used by staff and faculty members, crippling multiple systems and encrypting data files and email accounts. After determining that they were unable to recover the data the ransom was paid to "protect the quality and nature of the information we generate at the university," said an official in a press release.
The fact that higher education institutions are now being targeted by ransomware is raising serious questions about their ability to protect their data and critical information systems.
IT World Canada has more details, noting that the university has reported the incident to the police, and that Trend Micro "has seen a 20% uptick in malicious requests to command and control infrastructure from infected machines over the last three months" -- several thousand requests a day.
The fact that higher education institutions are now being targeted by ransomware is raising serious questions about their ability to protect their data and critical information systems.
IT World Canada has more details, noting that the university has reported the incident to the police, and that Trend Micro "has seen a 20% uptick in malicious requests to command and control infrastructure from infected machines over the last three months" -- several thousand requests a day.
I worked for the IT help desk while I was studying at university, and they had an incredibly limited budget. IT there, like everywhere else, is considered an expense, and it ignored as best as possible. I just hope for their sake, they had requests for backup software and offsite storage extremely well documented, to cover their ass.
How much would an automated (offsite) backup cost them?
Sig ?
Why must you troll about this? Trolling is very disrespectful to the victims, their families, and their friends.
I bet they're sorry now.
Sorry.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
It's just oee students semester of tution fees.
Stop trolling. If I had to guess, EditorDavid queued up a bunch of stories and went off to do other things. I highly doubt anyone is actively posting stories right now. It's also possible that the new editors will take a different approach about what stories to post.
Any news on how many bitcoins were lost in these attacks?
I know I keep my wallet encrypted, and only I know the password. My fake money would just vanish if something were to happen to me!
Oh, you mean the Canadian university bought Bitcoin and paid the extortionists? Hasn't your mom taught you not to do that? WTF is wrong with you people?
This keeps up they're gonna start inconveniencing people who matter. There's a reason they use bit coin for this. It's harder to trace and easier to launder.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Stop spamming every story with your disrespectful (to the victims, their families, and their friends) trolling. Go away and let the adults talk here.
Lead will kill U faster than A.I.D.S.
Try adding some irrational hatered of "teh evil Micro$oft" to your question. Those usually get modded up.
So isn't this more evidence that he should be fired? You're saying he queues up stories and then walks away instead of sticking around and doing his job?
"News for nerds"
I don't see what a nightclub shooting has to do with slashdot?
That's how Slashdot has always been run. That's how Soylentnews is run, too.
Stop. Fucking. Paying.
As long as you keep paying them off, they'll keep doing it. Stop being useless idiots.
Why do you hate LGBTQIAA people?! The LGBTQIA Allies have feelings too!
And are we going to have to give a fucking letter to every person's particular sexual preference to be "sensitive"?
This PC shit is really getting retarded!
I'm not the douchebag AC you replied to. Slashdot was once exactly the place for news like this. It was just about the only site that stayed up on 9/11. Slashdot was up and providing updates while even CNN was basically offline. It's a strange decision to not post a story about the Orlando shooting in the context of other mass shooting ls that Slashdot has posted about. The relevance to the site is debatable, though. And not posting a story is hardly disrespectful, despite the troll who keeps spamming about it.
And Slashdot viewership has been dropping every year, wonder why.
Maybe SoylentNews (which exists only because Slashdot is going downhill) should try to put forth more effort than Slashdot.
SoylentNews queues up stories, too. In fact, they let you see the titles of the stories have been queued up. There are usually four or five stories in the queue.
zfs rollback mypool@hourly-061209
in less than one second, cryptolocker is gone.
ps: sysadmin for hire
FTFY.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Out of curiosity - does the University of Calgary offer any courses in the fundamentals of Computer Security? If not, how about ones in System Administration and Backups?
Country that loves guns but wants to protect the freedom to have guns gets yet another mass shooting. News at 11.
Find these fuckers and execute them live on PPV. Maybe that would put a damper on this shit.
I have a musical suggestion for you.
Military are there to kill and to die. it's just their job.
aaaaaaa
In the face. Not the assholes who made the ransomware, the idiots who paid them.
But how many Bitcoins would it cost to watch that?
Find these fuckers and execute them live on PPV. Maybe that would put a damper on this shit.
I agree tuition is expensive, but that's going too far.
Maybe because we get pissed about idiots who post their bullshit in stories that have nothing to do with them. For some odd reason such twits didn't exist 10 years ago.
Maybe 'cause the relevant people didn't know how to use a keyboard yet.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
...and the stupid morons paid up so they will just encourage them more.
Depending on the amount of bitcoins you have that would actually affect the market price of the remaining bitcoins.
Hmm... what does happen to bitcoins that are "lost" somehow, anyway?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I doubt, 20K for a large organisation is nothing. The only thing they probably don't want is too much publicity but when you are a publicly funded institution you have to be transparent.
And there you go.
Remember the IT member who told you, "Hey, this is insecure, we should change this" And you blew him off because you didn't want the expense or didn't care, or thought it would never happen, or thought you knew better? Congratulations, your red face and excuses you're making now to hide the fact that you were told and warned about this are priceless.
Not that expected behavior is going to change.
Bring back communism!
They clearly aren't thinking strategically if they run Windows, pay ransoms, and continue to run Windows.
Canada should outlaw paying ransoms. In any case, outlaw paying for government institutions! I am a Canadian taxpayer and I do not want a university to support criminals. Let them just eat the loss if they haven't had backups.
17779 eligible voters in a district, 17779 'vote' as one. This is Russia.
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: --
"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: --
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
~~Rudyard Kipling
That'll show 'em
... serious questions about their ability to protect their data and critical information systems.
What a stupid thing to say. It isn't lack of ability - universities, of all places would have the experts or easy access to experts in other places to handle security. It is a question of taking the risk serious enough to spend the time and poney. I suspect many universities, or certainly their management, still don't think they have much worth stealing; after all, ideas and research are traditionally shared openly by the scientific community, and that is the real treasure owned and produced by universities. What they need is a rethink - after all, being able to handle "unimportant stuff" like administrative accounts, staff records etc is important too, at least if you hope to get paid.
Hoser.
Oh Donald...you silly.