Ransomware attacks are getting more and more common as technology gets more advanced and hackers adopt it before companies. Recently, the popular hacking group REvil hacked 200 US firms and is now demanding $70 million in Bitcoin. This is quite a huge demand, and most important being in cryptocurrency, they are again tarnishing Bitcoin’s name. Let’s see what the outcome of the situation happens to be.
What happened?
In order to accomplish their plan, REvil (which sounds very similar to Evil corp from Mr Robot) targeted a software supplier company, Kaseya. After it gained access to the company, they were able to use Kaseya’s network management package to spread ransomware. REvil affected over 1 million machines during this incident, and unless they get paid, the machines won’t be decrypted. So, there is a very high chance that their demand will be met in case the data on those devices are worth more than the asking amount.
REvil has made many successful ransomware attacks in the past too. The gas crisis that happened in the US due to the Colonial pipeline attack was orchestrated by them. And they took a $5 million ransom for the same. They also took $11 million from JSB holdings, a meat company that also happens to be the largest seller of meat globally.
How to stay safe from ransomware?
Generally, these big hacking groups target large companies for a large sum of money. But you never know when you might become a victim to this. So, in order to stay safe from Ransomware, there are a few things to be kept in mind. 1st is to back up your data regularly. It can be once a month, once a week, twice a week or even every day, depending on what you do and the sensitivity of the data. This will make sure you don’t need to pay anything to get your files back.
Other than this, avoiding unknown links, changing passwords regularly, using 2FA or google authenticator are a few other easy techniques to avoid being hacked. Often times being a little vigilant is enough to prevent falling into such traps.
What are your thoughts on REvil demanding $70 million in Bitcoin as ransom? And do you think the companies will pay the money? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative, do like and share it with your friends.
Also Read: Could Bitcoin break below $30k when Grayscale Bitcoin trust unlocks?
