Russian cyberattack infects over 200 US companies



[ad_1]

A Russian-linked hacker group has targeted nearly 200 companies in large-scale cyber ransomware attacks, according to cybersecurity firm Hunters.

And the “Bloomberg” website reported that these cyberattacks carried out by the Russia-linked group mainly targeted service providers, who often provide technology support to small and medium-sized businesses.

The US network said that by targeting service providers (MSPs), hackers can gain access and infiltrate their customers’ computer networks.

The report comes after US President Joe Biden discussed the issue of cyber attacks during his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva in the middle of last month.

Biden told his Russian counterpart that some sensitive infrastructure should be spared from “cyber attacks”.

According to two sources close to the attacks, two service providers were affected by the actions of the hackers, namely “Synx” and “Avtex”.

While a Synex spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Avtex CEO George Demo said that “hundreds of service providers have been affected by what appears to be a disruption of the global supply chain “.

“We are working with customers who have been affected to help them recover,” he added.

For his part, John Hammond, cybersecurity researcher at Hunters, said that 8 service providers were affected by the attacks, and added: “The customers of these companies have also been exposed, and their number is not less. to 200. “

Hammond said the number of victims is likely to increase “significantly” as more service providers have come under attack.

For his part, Jake Williams, chief technology officer of BritageQuest, a cybersecurity firm, said some of the victims responded to hackers’ demands, noting that ransom demands were estimated at $ 45,000 per company.

In the past, ransomware groups often demanded a one-time payment from service providers, rather than trying to collect payments from all of their customers.

But in this case, it appears that the REvi group hackers demanded a special ransom from each customer of the service providers, Williams said.

Earlier last month, GPS, the world’s largest beef supplier, announced that it had paid an $ 11 million ransom to hackers who attacked its electronic systems, leading to the complete shutdown of the company’s beef factories in the United States. United States, which provides about a fifth of its beef supply in the country.

REvil was also behind the ransomware attack on meat vendor GPS in May.

[ad_2]
Source link