11 May 2016, USA :
Capitol Hill became the latest victim of ransomware attacks. They were facing constant pop-ups, click ads, resulting it into opening malicious files and gaining control of the desktop. Attacks were coming through YahooMail, Gmail reported the staff members.
According to Gizmodo report, the support team issued a notification to all House staff at the end of April, explaining that it has noticed a marked increase in such attempts to lock users out of their files through Web-based email services like Yahoo Mail. As a result, it’s blocked access to it until further notice.
According to a congressional staffe, at least one of the ransomware attacks was successful. Once the computer was affected, House IT was able to remotely shut down the machine within 20 minutes. The staffer eventually had to reformat their computer.
Congress House’s Tech Desk urged staff and said, “Please do your part to help us address this recent attack and protect the House Network going forward by following proper cyber practices at all times. Phishing e-mails can look very legitimate and appear to come from known senders. Be very careful about clicking on attachments or links in e-mails, particularly when you are using non-House e-mail systems.”
YahooMail showed their concern and stated, “We take the security of our users very seriously, and we’re collaborating closely with House IT staff to ensure that they have the right solutions in place to best protect their accounts.”
Source : Gizmodo
