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Petya Ransomware Authors Demand $250,000 In First Public Statement Since Attack (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The group responsible for last week's globe-spanning ransomware attack has made their first public statement. Motherboard first spotted the post, which was left on the Tor-only announcement service DeepPaste. In the message, the Petya authors offer the private encryption key used in the attack in exchange for 100 bitcoin, the equivalent of over $250,000 at current rates. Crucially, the message includes a file signed with Petya's private key, which is strong evidence that the message came from the group responsible for Petya. More specifically, it proves that whoever left the message has the necessary private key to decrypt individual files infected by the virus. Because the virus deleted certain boot-level files, it's impossible to entirely recover infected systems, but individual files can still be recovered. The message also included a link to a chat room where the malware authors discussed the offer, although the room has since been deactivated.
Their lax security caused the problem, they should pay to fix it.
Can we just make up our minds and decide whether it's called "Petya" or "NotPetya"?
Bwahahahahahaha!
Sir - our legitimate companies make more than that in a day.
Don Knotts. Tim Conway. Donald Trump. Two played an idiot. One is an idiot.
I don't see why anyone would actually pay this. Not because it would "only encourage more" ransomware, as few are willing to martyr themselves or their businesses in the name of improved crime statistics. Nor do I think it's because this is just some ransom punk, the key shows they're probably the real deal.
Rather, I'd be surprised if anyone pays it up because the destruction of boot level files strikes me as an indicator that it is highly likely that ransom payment will get no useful key.
If they really wanted people to take them seriously they'd have left the system perfectly 100% recoverable. While they may have the key, I doubt that they'll actually release it, and there's no way to verify that they actually will release this key since if it's good encryption, the mess they made is statistically indistinguishable from random data. They might unlock a few files as proof, which would prove they have it. But that doesn't mean they'll release it. Plus, if I recall correctly, they already demanded cash and the few that paid up never got their files decrypted.
If someone actually does pay this, I imagine that the ransom will suddenly double, then triple, and continue to go up with no useful key delivered until those with the cash to pony up finally realize that either there is no key or it will never be released. At that point, the hackers walk away quite a bit richer and are never heard from again, unless they try to use their reputation in later ransomware schemes or hacking work, e.g. selling out their services to North Korea, even if their skills aren't particularly sophisticated.
Never not pay.
If you pay them then you simply add fuel to the fire. The best thing to do is migrate to a secure OS and restore all the data you can and fire anyone managing a division that doesn't have full backups.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Just think, all you have to do is pay $250,000 to finance the vacation weekend for the Russian hackers who already have their salary and pension paid by Russia!
And for this they will love you forever.
Or until Putin tells them to "take care of this troublesome" person.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Why does the CIA need $250 000?
The fact that they waited so long to do this and did this in this way suggests that the theory suggesting that the attack was state-sponsored is true. They are trying to make it look like it isn't (by requesting more money). However, they are doing this too late after the initial event which makes it seem like a reaction to the media reports rather than a genuine intention.
over 75% of health care facilities (and like 85% of major facilities like hospitals) in the u.s. depend upon nuance's medical transcription and voice recognition services... which has essentially been completely SHUT DOWN for nearly two weeks. doctors handwrite notes, facilities scramble to hire temps to transcribe in house..
the company has not exactly been transparent and forthcoming regarding the scope of the problem, the damage caused, and when the fuck they'll get things back up and running.
10s of thousands of workers are idle across the country (well, and india, too, i suppose) of theirs and 100s of smaller transcription companies and independent contractors.
because medical transcription happens 'behind the scenes', and doesn't (yet) affect the day-to-day operations of facilities or the care they provide.. and because nuance has a locked-up monopoly on the industry, so very few players involved, this is simply not making mainstream media... it's about time.
NUANCE, INC. FUCKED UP. most of their infrastructure got totally rekked by petya.. they obviously had no contingency plan in place, they obviously had no backups, no spare hardware.. no nothing. if they were prepared for 'the worst' they'd have everything up and running again in less than 24 hours.. but it's now TEN DAYS and counting.. and with no end in sight.
Once the private key is public, there are no more need for further payments. Obviously, this is just another scam, possibly by a different actor.
I would offer a $250,000 reward for the identification of the people responsible. And then every country in the world can decide whether taking them out is helping their national security.
He need abuh two-fiddy.
I would prefer to address this problem with bullets. Or at the very least HAND-CUFFS! We need to find these people, and arrest them! PRISON is the solution to theft.