A ransomware attack launched by hackers from West is said to have crippled the entire digital systems of Boston Public Defenders last month. Highly placed sources say that the hackers are demanding a huge ransom in bitcoins, but the authorities have decided to use back-ups to restore services instead of bowing down to the demands of hackers.
Email services, payment services from clients and all other communication mediums are reported to have been affected by the attack.
Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) said that they have taken all the digital systems offline and a third-party security services provider has been pressed into service to clean up the virus.
Cybersecurity Insiders learned that the ransomware attack took place on Feb 27th, 2019 locking down access to the database since then. Now, after almost three weeks, the impact of the malware is being felt strongly by the attorneys who chose to postpone court cases to early next month.
Note 1- Ransomware is a kind of malware which locks down data access until a ransom is paid to hackers who then offer a decryption key for the encrypted data. But they are ‘n’ number of instances where hackers failed to provide the decryption key after receiving the amount in their bitcoins wallet. Either they demand more or vanish after receiving the payment.
Note 2- So, security analysts and the law enforcement like FBI are urging ransomware attack victims not to pay to the hackers and instead look into options of rebuilding the database with the help of backups. However, such kind of data continuity planning needs some kind of proactive planning before the occurrence of the disaster.
Note 3- But most of the companies fail to take up security measures due to budget issues or laxity towards cybersecurity. Remember this attitude can not only put their business down but can also break it forever.
