The Vice Society ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for last week's cyberattack on the Medical University of Innsbruck, which caused a severe IT service disruption and alleged data theft.
The research university has 3,400 students and 2,200 employees and offers extensive medical care services, including surgeries.
The Austrian university revealed an IT outage on June 20, 2022, limiting access to online servers and systems. The next day, the university's IT team reset the passwords of 3,400 students and 2,200 employees and invited everyone to go through a manual process to collect their new credentials.
In the days that followed, the university gradually restored its online services and returned operations to its main website, which had initially been taken offline. However, the university only said that they had been attacked, but did not provide further details in published statements and certainly did not mention Vice Society.
Yesterday, Vice Society added the Medical University of Innsbruck to its data leak site, leaking an extensive list of documents allegedly stolen during last week’s cyberattack. A limited review of the leaked data confirms that it appears genuine and has the university’s letterhead, professors’ signatures, and other evidence of authenticity.
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Bleeping Computer contacted the Medical University of Innsbruck to confirm whether the IT department outage was linked to the alleged ransomware attack, and indeed a spokesperson indicated that the attack was the cause.
Since this ransomware attack is indeed the reason behind last week's outage, the fact that the hackers released all the data, and not just a sample, a full week after the attack could mean that negotiations for a ransom payment have reached an impasse or never took place.
Typically, Vice Society uses a countdown timer to blackmail a newly announced victim before releasing files, so no blackmail is taking place now.
Vice Society has been targeting European organizations lately, focusing specifically on government/public agencies and educational institutions.
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Earlier this month, it was reported that this ransomware group wreaked havoc in the Italian city of Palermo, depriving 1.3 million people of enjoying a wide range of municipal services.
Other victims recently listed on the Vice Society onioninclude a college in the UK, a hospital in Italy , and two universities in the UK. This makes the Medical University of Innsbruck the fifth European victim of Vice revealed in the past month.
Source: bleepingcomputer.com
