Ransomware attack on Hayward City of California

Networked servers of the City of Hayward, California were hacked by a notorious ransomware gang demanding a double-digit figure in millions, only to be paid in cryptocurrency. Chuck Finnie, the Communications and Marketing Officer of Hayward City stated that the infiltration and information breach was detected in this week and assured to reveal more details after prima facie gets concluded.

Finnie stated that the employees dealing with various services were asked not to log onto their computers over the weekend and will be asked to do so until the malware gets removed or neutralized.

Ransomware is kind of malicious software that encrypts data until a ransom is paid. In double extortion attacks, the hackers who launched the attack steal data before encrypting and then sell it on the dark web, if the victim fails to pay the demanded sum on time. In attacks involving triple extortion, hackers threaten the victim of tarnishing their image among their customers, partners, and competitors.

In another incident like the one specified above, computers servers at ZooTampa, located in Tampa, Florida were also hit by malware disrupting the online services since early last week. Security experts suspect that the incident could involve ransomware, but are unsure about file encrypting malware infection.

Forensic experts have been hired by the Zoo authorities to investigate the incident and backup data will be used to keep the data continuity to various applications, intact.

As the zoo authorities do not store details of payments on its servers, such data is free from the attacks.

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