University of Utah pays $457,000 to ransomware gang

University officials restored from backups, but they had to pay the ransomware gang to prevent them from leaking student data.

The University of Utah revealed today that it paid a ransomware gang $457,059 in order to avoid having hackers leak student information online.

The incident is the latest in a long string of ransomware attacks where criminal groups steal sensitive files from the hacked companies before encrypting their files; and in case victims refuse to pay, threaten to release the stolen documents as a second extortion scheme.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/university-of-utah-pays-457000-to-ransomware-gang/

#US #Utah #University #ransomware

Budding cyber crims can now enrol at ‘hacker university’

For a one-off fee of $125, you too can become one of those scumbags who preys on elderly Internet users and small online businesses.

Cybersecurity software provider Armor this week revealed in its latest annual threat report that it has found a so-called ‘hacker university’ offering online courses that teach students how to commit various cyber crimes. These include how to access a router’s admin software; deploying ransomware; locating targets on compromised networks; and trafficking stolen credit card information, among others.

According to Armor, the ‘university’ also plans to sell its own range of ransomware, keyloggers password stealers, and trojans.

All of this is accessible for the low price of $125, paid in Bitcoin or Monero – a cryptocurrency that prides itself in offering anonymous payments.

“Creators of the site advertise that they want to ‘teach people about cybercrime and how to become a professional cybercriminal. By taking the course offered you will gain the knowledge and skills needed to hack an individual or company successfully with whatever malware you have at your disposal’,” said Armor, in its threat report.

Charming. Presumably the university doesn’t offer a course on ethics, where students are encouraged to try and reconcile their idealised image of hackers as modern-day outlaws with the reality that all they are really doing is stealing old peoples’ pensions.

Among the other findings in Armor’s report is an a la carte menu of various dark-Web products and services and their prices.

These include but are not limited to perennial favourites like an individual’s credit card information ($5-$35 depending on nationality and type of card) or DDoS attack ($100-$250 depending on the size of Website), to something a little more exotic, like personal identifiable information – street-name ‘fullz’ – or a white-label turnkey e-commerce platform that enables anyone to set up their own darkweb online store. There is even a service that offers to destroy a rival small business by bombarding it with spam and unwanted items ($185).

👀 👉🏼 https://telecoms.com/506692/budding-cyber-crims-can-now-enrol-at-hacker-university/

#cyber #crims #crime #hacker #university #cybersecurity #thinkabout
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@BlackBox_Archiv
📡@NoGoolag

diverse medical students are failing even the most basic medical competency tests

competency crisis is getting so severe that they can't hide it anymore.

....the number of students failing their shelf exams—standardized tests taken after each clinical rotation—has exploded, rising as much as tenfold in some subjects.

#kalergi #usa #university #dei