The Gang Following This Extensive Cyberattack Necessitates 70 Million Dollars Into Bitcoin.

The gang behind the "colossal" ransomware attack demands 70 million dollars ( 50, £5 million), paid in Bitcoin exchange for a "universal decryptor," which it maintains will unlock all of the victim's files.

The Ravil group claims that their malware, initially targeted against US IT company Kaseya, attacked one million "systems ."This estimate has not been verified, and the exact number of victims is unknown. However, it includes 500 Swedish cooperative supermarkets and 11 schools in New Zealand. According to local media, two Dutch IT companies were also affected.

Counting victims

As of Friday, cybersecurity firm, Huntress Labs estimated around 200 companies were affected. The supply chain attack was initially aimed at Kaseya before spreading to its network using its software. Kaseya said less than 40 of his customers were affected.

However, because Kaseya provides software to managed service providers, i.e., companies outsourcing IT services to other companies, the toll could be much higher. And the number of individual computer systems in this victim organization could be even more significant.

Fred Vocola, CEO of Kaseya, told the Associated Press that the death toll was likely under the thousands of smaller organizations such as dental offices and libraries.

Analyzer box from Joe Tidy, cyber reporter

For hundreds, perhaps thousands of IT teams worldwide, this ransomware attack is a terrible problem that is still growing. But the way the cybersecurity world is working together to mitigate the impact of that attack is fantastic. Private and public cybersecurity advocates are sending signals as experts look for the best way to unravel victim networks.

If it weren't for the busy and stressful weekend, there might have been more casualties. However, we now know that the secret digital door in Kaseya's system that started the Ravil hacker was known before the attack. A researcher at the Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Detection discovered the problem and helped Kaseya close the hole long before hackers found it.