A global ransomware outbreak has scrambled servers belonging to Florida's Supreme Court and several universities in the U.S. and Central Europe, according to a Reuters analysis of ransom notes posted online to stricken servers.
The extent of the disruption to the affected organizations, if any, wasn't clear. The Florida Supreme Court didn't respond to messages. Neither did the 12 universities contacted by Reuters, which included the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, Rice University in Houston, as well as institutions of higher learning in Hungary and Slovakia.
Ransomwhere said the cybercriminals appear to have extorted only $88,000, a modest haul by the standard of multi-million dollar ransoms regularly demanded by some hacking gangs. One cybersecurity expert said the outbreak - which is thought to have exploited a two-year-old vulnerability in VMWare Inc.
Also uncommon is the highly visible nature of the outbreak, which began earlier this month. Because internet-facing servers were affected, researchers and tracking services like Ransomwhere or Onyphe could easily follow the criminals' trail.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Federal court upholds NY rent stabilization laws, setting up possible Supreme Court showdownThe landlords say they will next try to get the U.S. Supreme Court and its conservative majority to weigh in.
Read more »
North Carolina’s top court gives Supreme Court a run for its moneyNorth Carolina's top court is giving the Supreme Court a run for its money on partisanship. (via Deadline: Legal Blog)
Read more »
Unfortunately, the Biggest Election Case of the Supreme Court Term Could Be MootRepublican justices in the North Carolina Supreme Court threw a wrench in the works on Friday.
Read more »
Opinion | It's not the Supreme Court justices' wives that you're really mad atAt least five members of the Supreme Court are comfortable ignoring the court’s past decisions and manipulating the law to achieve more conservative goals.
Read more »
How the COVID pandemic led H-E-B to a fight at the Texas Supreme CourtH-E-B wants Texas Supreme Court to toss defamation and disparagement claims in suit against grocer
Read more »