SoylentNews

Ransomware Attack Paralyses St Louis Libraries as Hackers Demand Bitcoins

posted by on Wednesday January 25 2017, @09:51AM   
from the we-don't-negotiate-with-terrorists dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Apparently it's the library's turn to pay a fine.

Libraries in St Louis have been bought to a standstill after computers in all the city's libraries were infected with ransomware, a particularly virulent form of computer virus used to extort money from victims.

Hackers are demanding $35,000 (£28,000) to restore the system after the cyberattack, which affected 700 computers across the Missouri city's 16 public libraries. The hackers demanded the money in electronic currency bitcoin, but, as CNN reports, the authority has refused to pay for a code that would unlock the machines.

As a result, the library authority has said it will wipe its entire computer system and rebuild it from scratch, a solution that may take weeks.

---

Original Submission

• Re:An expensive lesson. Re:An expensive lesson. (Score: 3, Disagree) by mcgrew on Wednesday January 25 2017, @02:33PM

  by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday January 25 2017, @02:33PM (#458492) Homepage Journal

  I think you're completely misunderstanding information technologies. The library here in Springfield, IL has public computers that are connected to the internet, they offer free wi-fi in the library, and their card catalog [lincolnlibrary.info] is online, but you can't get into the computers that hold employee payroll data, library card information, fines, and other sensitive information.

  If you would have bothered to RTFS you'd have seen that a middle manager clicked on an email link. It had nothing to do with computers set out for patrons.

  --
  mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org

  Parent

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+1
  Informative=1, Disagree=1, Total=2
  Extra 'Disagree' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		3

• Re:An expensive lesson. (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday January 25 2017, @05:00PM

  by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Wednesday January 25 2017, @05:00PM (#458529)

  If you would have bothered to RTFS you'd have seen that a middle manager clicked on an email link. It had nothing to do with computers set out for patrons.

  I see nothing in TFS(summary) to that effect. (maybe I need coffee)

  From TFA:

  Last year, the FBI cyber division assistant director James Trainor warned that attacks were becoming increasingly sophisticated. “These criminals have evolved over time and now bypass the need for an individual to click on a link,” he said. “They do this by seeding legitimate websites with malicious code, taking advantage of unpatched software on end-user computers.”

  Parent

• Re:An expensive lesson. (Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday January 25 2017, @06:06PM

  by looorg (578) on Wednesday January 25 2017, @06:06PM (#458559)

  I did read the fucking article, I even read it again and I still can't find what you mention.

  The system is believed to have been infected through a centralised computer server, and staff emails have also been frozen by the virus. The FBI has been called in to investigate.

  From the article and I mentioned that in one of the last sentences of my initial post.

  Victims are hacked by clicking on an innocuous looking attachment or website link within an email.

  Which was not related to the specific incident that the article was about but was a general comment at the end of the article detailing how ransomware infections usually happen. So which one of us is it that needs to learn to RTFS again? Not me.

  Parent