Hackers gang spreading NetWalker Ransomware has targeted Michigan State University which is one of the oldest educational institutes in the United States. And they have reportedly given 7 days to the university officials to pay the ransom or they have threatened to release some stolen files via a website on the dark web.
To support their claims NetWalker ransomware spreading gang has already released a portion of data that they accessed before locking down the servers from being accessed by the university authorities.
Although the staff of the Michigan University is confident that they can recover the data from the backups, they are a bit worried about the data leak.
In the meantime, Technology giant Microsoft has issued an alert to the online world about PonyFinal Ransomware which is reportedly targeting PCs in the United States, Iran, and India.
Technically, PonyFinal is Java-based ransomware that is induced by human-operated ransomware attacks where hackers are seen inducing the file-encrypting malware on a manual note into corporate networks unlike phishing emails and exploit kits.
It’s done by first launching a brute force attack where hackers break into online accounts by guessing passwords and then start encrypting files by spreading to local computers.
As per the research conducted by MalwareHunterTeam, the PonyFinal Ransomware was first found early this year targeting selected victims from the Healthcare sector mainly from Iran and the United States. And after lockdown, it spread to east like India and its neighboring countries.
More details are awaited!
