Sinclair, the American Television Station Operator, released a press statement that its servers were targeted by a ransomware attack on Saturday-October 16th,2021. News is out that the malware disrupts servers related to advertisements broadcast and some office operations.
A ransomware is a file encrypting malware that infects a database and locks it down from access until a ransom is paid. However, the infection spreading tactics of the ransomware operators have changed. They are first seen infiltrating a database, then steal data and encrypt it until a ransom is paid.
Maryland based broadcasting company said that it has notified the law enforcement agencies, its senior management and other departments about the attack and has hired a third party forensic firm named ‘Legal Counsel’ to investigate the incident.
Note 1- Last week, US President Joe Biden’s administration held a virtual meeting that was related to ransomware spread and discussions to curb it. The meeting that involved 30 countries saw the representatives of several nations pledge for information sharing to counter the global security threat related to malware that has the potential to cause serious economic and security consequences.
Note 2- The countries that took part in the meet were Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Canada, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Poland, Nigeria, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, UAE and some nations that consider Euro as its fiat currency.
