Ryuk ransomware hits “Tampa Bay Times” newspaper

Florida based newspaper “The Tampa Bay Times” suffered a Ryuk ransomware attack on Thursday.

Ryuk ransomware has targeted three Florida-based victims in the past year. The newspaper has reported that the attack has not resulted in any data breach and sensitive data of customers are safe. The newspaper has ensured that they are looking forward to restoring security operations and use further preventive measures.

Ryuk has targeted and crippled delivery operations of at least four major US newspapers, including The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times. A recent study revealed that the deployment team of Ryuk ransomware has made more than $3.7 million via ransom. Ryuk ransomware generally works with Emotet and TrickBot for performing multi-staged attacks on the victim.

The multi-layered attack generally starts with a malicious Microsoft Office document which is downloaded by the target into the system. This document upon opening will run cmd and execute a PowerShell command which attempts to download Emotet. Emotet then executes TrickBot and gathers the information on the affected system.

NPAV always recommends using and updating proper cybersecurity measures. Such ransomware attacks can cause menace of a vast scale if proper precautions are not taken. Ransomware attacks can open a gateway for various other malicious components and can have a devastating effect on your system and its data.

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