The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has agreed to pay a ransom of around one million euros following a cyber attack launched on June 1. The hackers of the Netwalker collective had indeed succeeded in installing ransomware preventing access to data on the establishment's computer network. Researchers at the facility are working on a treatment for Covid-19, says the BBC.
The British media witnessed live negotiations on dark web messaging between pirates and the establishment. The computer specialists at the California research center were unable to stop the spread of the virus in their systems despite a rapid disconnection from the computers.
University works with FBI
Authorities in many countries advise against giving in to hackers' blackmail operations. Negotiations leading to ransom payments are increasing all over the world. The exchanges between Netwalker and the University of California began on June 5. The hackers initially demanded $ 3 million to make access to scientists' data.
The academics initially proposed $ 780,000, explaining that the coronavirus crisis had been "financially devastating" for them. A compromise was finally found and UCSF paid 116.4 bitcoins into the ransomware authors' electronic account. They then sent decryption software to the establishment to recover the lost information. "Encrypted data is important in the academic work we do [...] for the good of all," says the university. […] So we made the difficult decision to pay part of the ransom. "
To limit risks and vulnerability, cybersecurity experts recommend regularly backing up all the elements present on the networks. UCSF is currently in the process of restoring access to the data confiscated by the hackers and is collaborating with the FBI investigators in charge of the case.
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