The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a public statement warning residents about a Ransomware spread being made by a notorious hacking firm named Vice Society. The law enforcement agency has warned the citizens of the United States not to fall prey to the ransomware campaigns launched by the said group of threat actors known to target schools & educational institutes in the country.
As most of the educational institutions are being targeted by Vice Society, the FBI issued a joint statement association with CISA of personal data theft and unauthorized access of computer networks leading to data steal of students, teachers, employees and syllabus.
FBI also added in its statement that it will work closely with Microsoft and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis centre (MS-ISAC) and will be closely monitoring BTC transaction details, IP addresses, and ransom notes that will help track down cyber criminals.
Vice Society exploits online systems by using tools such as Cobalt Strike, SystemBC, and PowerShell Empire.
So, the IT staff managing the infrastructure of educational institutions are being urged to step- up their Cybersecurity efforts by using FA, backing up information, keeping a tab on all 3rd party operations, and thwarting phishing attempts by educating staff on how to avoid troubles in the latest online scenarios.
NOTE- FBI, in association with Interpol, recovered around $2.3 million from the total ransom of $4.4 million paid by Colonial Pipeline to ransomware spreading gangs. Similarly, a Netherlands-based law enforcement agency recollected the total sum of $200k paid to recover data related to Maastricht University in 2019. As the total sum was paid in BTC and the recovered sum will fetch as the bitcoin rate is high when compared to 2019, the extra sum recovered will bolster security efforts of the University, to avoid such digital embarrassments, in the future.
