One of the most dangerous ransomware currently circulating is Ryuk ransomware. On April 13, Stuart City, Florida, fell victim to the malware.
Authorities are investigating the case, as the ransomware attack had serious consequences. The malware affected several servers and took them offline.
The virus, which was detected on Saturday, April 13, froze the servers, resulting in them still being offline.
The attack appears to have started with a phishing email and was discovered by an IT worker during the installation of a new server.
Although David Dyess, the city manager, confirmed the nature of the attack, he did not provide information on the amount of money the criminals demanded. What we do know is that they asked for it in the form of Bitcoin.
Authorities discovered two things. The first was a trickbot, which is essentially malware that could cause various problems. The second was the Ryuk virus, which encrypts files and targets servers.
Specialists took care of restoring some servers, but employees still do not have access to email accounts.
Stuart police and fire departments are still offline. It will generally take several days for all systems to be fully restored.
In March, hackers targeted another city, Jackson County, Georgia, using the same ransomware (Ryuk). The entire city's systems were paralyzed until authorities paid the $400,000 demanded by the hackers.
The city of Stuart, however, refused to pay the ransom.
Dyess said the city is not willing to negotiate with the hackers. Experts have already begun restoring systems. Every server and laptop is also being checked for viruses and removed.
The effects of Ryuk ransomware were mitigated, to some extent, thanks to the computer backup system.
If the copies did not exist, then the city would be forced to pay the amount of money to regain its records.
Security firms FireEye and CrowdStriketo, which are working on the case, discovered that the hackers behind the attack are working with another group to gain access to target networks.
