Manchester University staff and students have been sent threatening emails designed to pressure the university into paying a ransom following previous breaches.
according to reports Information securityThe university said on June 9 that an unauthorized person had accessed “part of the system” and suffered a data breach. This attack was first spotted three days before him.
However, the attackers behind the attack now appear to be employing classic “triple extortion” tactics. In other words, we expect them to contact individuals whose data was compromised and demand payment from the compromised organization.
For more information on the University of Manchester data breach, see University of Manchester suffers suspected data breach during cyber incident.
A university spokesperson said yesterday, “After reporting a cyber incident earlier this month, we are aware that some staff and students have been sent emails impersonating those behind the incident. I am doing it,” he said.
“All staff and students should be careful not to open suspicious emails or attempt phishing and report them to the IT department.”
She added that the university is “working around the clock” to identify which data was accessed.
The message appears to contain a “final warning” to faculty and recipients that personal information could be leaked to the dark web unless the university complies with the hackers’ demands.
According to Check Point statistics, the UK’s education and research sector has been the top target for ransomware attackers, with 3,809 attacks per week per organization over the past six months. Information security.
The incident is not believed to be related to the MOVEit supply chain attack, in which countless global organizations had their data stolen via a popular managed file transfer tool.
However, triple extortion is becoming more prevalent among ransomware attackers as more organizations refuse to pay.
In early May, after Virginia’s Bluefield University suffered a ransomware attack, attackers hijacked mass alarm systems to warn of an impending major data breach.
In a talk at Infosecurity Europe yesterday, renowned ethical hacker Keren Elazari named triple extortion as one of the ways ransomware groups are innovating to stay ahead of network defenders. .
