Security Report: DDoS Attacks Hit Firms Battling Cybercrime
Two DDoS attacks in the last week targeted a pair of security firms that recently engaged in activities to combat malicious hacking, according to a report in bleepingcomputer.com.
Security firm Dr. Web was the victim of an attack on its domains in Russia and Ukraine on Jan. 25, a day after the company revealed the existence of a botnet that infected thousands of Linux devices being used to hide IPs and secretly route traffic.
Then on Saturday, hackers hit security software vendor Emsisoft’s site for distributing ransomware decrypters, though the company’s defense prevented any downtime.
Webroot to sponsor Continuum Europe event: Endpoint security firm Webroot will be the Gold Sponsor for Continuum’s 2nd Annual European Partner Day.
The one-day training and networking event is scheduled for March 8, at Tate Modern Museum in London.
Police lose eight years of evidence in ransomware attack: A Dallas-area police department opted to wipe a server containing digital evidence dating back to 2009, rather than pay a $4,000 ransom to hackers.
The attack against the Cockrell Hill Police Department occurred on Dec. 12, and after consultation with the FBI, a decision was made to not pay, a news release said.
“This virus affected all Microsoft Office Suite documents, such as Word documents and Excel files,” the release said. “In addition, all body camera video, some in-car video, some in-house surveillance video, and some photographs that were stored on the server were corrupted and were lost.”
Hackers cripple CCTV network days before inauguration: About 70 percent of the devices for storing video from Washington, D.C.’s public closed-circuit video cameras were taken offline by a ransomware attack during the week before the presidential inauguration.
The attack impacted 123 of 187 network recorders, leaving police cameras unable to record from Jan. 12-15, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Authorities declined to pay a ransom, and instead scrambled to get the system operational in time for Jan. 20, by taking the devices offline, removing software and restarting the systems.
Cyberattack locks guests out of hotel rooms: Scores of guests at an Austrian luxury hotel were locked out of their rooms last month, after cyber-criminals hacked the resort’s key card system, according to multiple published reports.
Officials at the Romantik Seehotel Jaegerwirt Superior Hotel conceded they paid a $1,600 ransom to regain access to the key card, reservation and cash desk systems.
“The house was totally booked with 180 guests; we had no other choice,” the hotel’s managing director, Christoph Brandstaetter, was quoted as saying. “Neither the police nor insurance helps you in this case.”
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