Atlanta’s Government Cyber-Attacked with Ransomware

This blog post was made on 09/13/2018.

Atlanta’s Government has been infected by ransomware that demands that the government officials pay around $51,000 in Bitcoin. This attack was caused by A malware called SamSam, and this isn’t the first time it has been used on government property before.

This SamSam ransomware has knocked over 400 necessary programs offline until the ransomware debt is paid. The ransomware has effected court documents, police cam footage, and has knocked out over 10 years of documents. This SamSam ransomware attack is going to cost the government millions to try and fix with no end currently in sight.

This is a very unfortunate incident that just shows we are just moving into an age where cyber attacks are coming all the more common. The fact that this has been used against the government and that the government can’t do that much about it tells us maybe it’s time we start to take cybersecurity more seriously. The government really needs to start beefing up their cybersecurity department, because in the future there is going to be way more vicious cyber-attacks, with more extreme consequences.

Perhaps if the government had more “cyber-defense” against the “cyber-attacks” than maybe we could have avoided this situation entirely. If the government doesn’t do more to beef up their cybersecurity anytime soon, then there is going be more incidents like this one that could be far worse.

Source: Atlanta ransomware attack may cost another $9.5 million to fix

Over 250 Million PCs affected by malicious adware called “Fireball”

This blog post was made on 09/09/2018.

A new cyber threat has emerged from the internet that has affected 250 million computers. This cyber threat called “Fireball” is an adware that infects your computer and changes your search engine to gather your in information.

This code may not seem serious at first but it is reported that the adware has access to your computers codes and can add or download more malicious files that can hurt your computer even more.

This Adware was sent out by a Bejing-based digital marketing firm called Rafotech, according to security firm Check Point. Rafotech uses this adware to install a backdoor to your computer that can be accessed any time by Rafotech at any point they please.

The search engines that have been identified so far have been “Soso Desktop” and “FVP Imageviewer”. These search engines are not commonly used in the United States but there could be more search engines that have infected but they have not yet been identified.

This adware may not seem malicious at first but can have access to your computer and cause more serious issues. About 5.5 million PCs have been affected by this adware in the United States with many more to come. If your computer seems to have been affected to anything similar to this I would highly suggest you have a security check or have an antivirus scan on your computer.

Source: https://www.wired.com/2017/06/hack-brief-dangerous-fireball-adware-infects-quarter-billion-pcs/