Attack on Kaseya software: Hackers want to extort 70 million dollars


Attack on Kaseya software
Hackers want to extort $ 70 million

More than 1000 companies worldwide could be affected by a hacking attack on the IT company Kaseya. It is a so-called ransomware attack – the perpetrators are now demanding a million euros.

The group allegedly behind the hacking attack on an IT company in the USA is demanding a ransom of 70 million dollars (about 59 million euros). Then data should be released again, the group called “REvil” posted on their blog. An expert from cybersecurity firm Recorded Future said the entry appeared to be real. The group has been running the blog since last year.

In one of the largest blackmailing hacker attacks in recent years, thousands of companies around the world may have been paralyzed since Friday afternoon. The hacker group “REvil” is suspected of having hijacked the desktop management tool VSA from Kaseya and installed a malicious update that infected thousands of customers of the US tech management provider.

Entire accounting systems were blocked by the hacker’s encryption. The attack had and continues to have effects as far as Europe. According to the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), thousands of computers in Germany are also affected. The supermarket chain Coop Sweden had to close 800 branches on Saturday because the checkout system failed.

More than 1000 companies affected

The Kaseya VSA software was manipulated “to encrypt more than 1000 companies,” said the cybersecurity consulting firm Huntress Labs on Saturday. The cyber attack occurred before the weekend that the United States celebrates Independence Day.

Kaseya itself confirmed the attack and assured on Saturday that the attack had been contained, so that only a “very small percentage” of the customers who used the so-called VSA network was affected. When attacking with ransomware, hackers lock or encrypt the computer systems of their victims in order to extort money from the users for the release of their data.

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