BlackByte Ransomware group that is seen targeting physical and virtual servers hosted on Microsoft Windows operating system have this time hit the servers related to San Francisco 49ers- just before the Super Bowl. And information is out that the threat actors only encrypted the corporate IT network and not the one outside the network, such as the ones linked to ticket sales and game and stadium related operations on the administrative side.
To those unaware of SF 49ers, it is a football team that represents San Francisco Bay Area and is now seen competing with other National Football League (NFL) as a member.
BlackByte is a hacking gang that offers ransomware-as-a-service on pay and has encrypted many private and public networks in United States till date. FBI discovered recently that the threat actors managed to exploit vulnerability on Microsoft Exchange Servers and implanted malware on many networks, thus by first stealing data and then encrypting the data until a ransom is paid.
In other news related to NFL and Ransomware, a former player having a history of playing in the National Football League has been jailed for 5 years for involving with the gang of cyber criminals committing healthcare fraud.
Robert McCune, a 41-year-old individual from Georgia, has been pronounced guilty for committing wire and healthcare fraud.
Robert was found defrauding Gene Upshaw NFL Players’ Health Reimbursement Account Plan that offers a tax-free amount of $350,000 to cover up the healthcare expenses not covered by their insurance companies.
By producing false documents of over 7-former players, McCune was found cheating the healthcare company for millions in between 2017-2018, said a source from Department of Justice.
Information is out that the former player of NFL was also involved with a notorious cyber hacking gang that spreads ransomware and was helping them in crime by offering his in-house computing devices as bots in a network.
