The U.S. Conference of Mayors has unanimously resolved not to give in to any ransom demands from the hackers.
Considering the number of ransomware targeting cities and municipalities has grown both in frequency and intensity, the resolution, while not legally binding, establishes an official position that U.S. mayors aren’t going to take it anymore.
On July 9, county officials confirmed that the school district system was crippled by the Ryuk ransomware, linked to the Grim Spider hackers thought to be based in Eastern Europe.
“Paying ransomware attackers encourages continued attacks on other government systems, as perpetrators financially benefit,” the resolution reads.
“The United States Conference of Mayors has a vested interest in de-incentivizing these attacks to prevent further harm, therefore be it resolved that the United States Conference of Mayors stands united against paying ransoms in the event of an IT security breach.”
Some 1,400 mayors of cities whose populations exceed 30,000 make up the Conference, which recently held its 87th annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Mecklenburg County in North Carolina experienced additional cyberattacks after it refused to pay $23,000 in ransomware.
County Manager sent an email to warn county employees about the cyberattacks and provided these workers with recommendations.
Mecklenburg County would not pay the ransom, and instead would use backup data to restore government systems that were affected by the cyberattack.
Office of the Tax Collector.
How Can MSSPs Help Organizations Combat Ransomware Attacks?
Encrypt all customer data, regardless of whether it is stored on-premises or in the cloud.
Following the encryption of the targeted files, it drops a ransom-demanding note in all the existing folders that contain .Nemty files.
The developers claim to restore the encrypted files, only if the victim agrees to follow the instructions given by the hackers.
While Remote Desktop Connections distribution technique is not new for Ransomware propagation, it is considered a more treacherous method when compared to phishing techniques.
After gaining illicit access to the systems via RDP, the hackers get an unregulated entry to the targeted system to launch attacks & propagate wider distribution of malware without the user’s intervention.
Victims are required to pay 0.09981 Bitcoin (equivalent to $1,010.74) in exchange of the Nemty decryption tool & unique key.
The code for the Nemty contained a link that redirected to the image of Russian President Putin and displayed a message to the antivirus industry.
Also, numerous people discuss and present their ideas on how to remove the nasty computer threats.
It states that the stored files have been encrypted by malicious lilu virus and you have to pay the demanded ransom to get Lilocked decrypter.
According to French security researches, Lilocked has infected about 6,700 servers.
However, the number of targeted users is suspected to be much higher.
This article will give you insights about the menace caused by Lilocked ransomware to Linux server.
You may permanently lose the encrypted data, if you fail to make the payment within the prescribed time.
