Officials at the University of Calgary admitted this week that the school recently paid $20,000 CDN to rid its systems of ransomware that hampered productivity for 10 days. Linda Dalgetty, the school’s VP of Finance and Services, acknowledged via press release on Wednesday that the school paid the ransom, which translates to roughly $15,756 USD, to maintain...

Attackers have found a new way to exploit the Widows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) which is being used to infect and reinfect targeted PCs with malware even after the initial infection has been removed. According to security researchers at Dell SecureWorks, attackers are exploiting a lesser-known BITS “notification” feature. The feature allows attackers to create a...

Researchers who dig deep through the code of one of the latest strains of ransomware might be surprised and even a little irked at what they find. Hidden inside some of those strings of code are taunts aimed at them. According to Lawrence Abrams who runs BleepingComputer.com, the malware, BlackShades Crypter a/k/a SilentShades was spotted late last...

CryptXXX ransomware has received a major overhaul by its authors, putting it on the fast track to unseat Locky as top moneymaker for criminals. Researchers at Proofpoint said that on May 26, cybercriminals released an updated CryptXXX 3.100 version of the ransomware that includes a new StillerX credential-stealing module that gives attackers additional capabilities to monetize an attack....

Ransomware as a business is maturing and nowhere is that better illustrated than in Russia, according to Flashpoint researchers. The security firm released two reports on Thursday, one on a burgeoning ransomware-as-a-service business model (PDF) in Russia and the second on new developments in Russian ransomware kingpins targeting hospitals (PDF). Researchers conclude, the ransomware industry...

Forced to come clean on breaches against the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Fed on Wednesday revealed the agency that drives financial markets around the world has been breached as many as 50 times in the past five years. As part of a Freedom of Information Act request by the Reuters news agency, the public is...

New malware that targets industrial control systems called Irongate was found by researchers who say the discovery should serve as another wakeup call to the security industry to shore up its detection capabilities around ICS and SCADA threats. Irongate, which shares some of the same attributes as the lethal Stuxnet malware, was found by researchers...

Russian law enforcement has made 50 arrests in connection with a five-year operation to steal three billion rubles (just shy of $45 million USD) from the country’s largest bank, Sberbank. The hackers are alleged to have exploited websites, including popular news sites, to infect victims with the Lurk Trojan, a downloader that grabs more malware...

Hackers claim to have unearthed a zero-day vulnerability giving attackers admin rights to any Windows machine from Windows 2000 to a fully patched version of Windows 10. The zero day is for sale on the black market for $90,000. Security experts say the zero-day exploit looks legitimate and in the wrong hands could be an...

Businesses were hit hardest by inbox-based scams in 2015 that robbed U.S. companies of $263 million. The numbers come from the FBI’s recently released 2015 Internet Crime Report that tallies the types of cybercrimes hitting U.S. business and individuals the hardest. According to the FBI, its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 288,012 complaints last...