Hackers behind holiday crime spree demand $70 million, say they locked 1 million devices

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MSNBC
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Hacker gang behind an international crime spree that played out over the Fourth of July weekend say they've locked more than a million individual devices and are demanding $70M in bitcoin to set them all free in one swoop.

Hackers behind holiday crime spree demand $70 million, say they locked 1 million devices
The hacker gang behind an international crime spree that played out over the Fourth of July weekend say they've locked more than a million individual
nbcnews.com
8:31 AM · Jul 5, 2021

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/hackers-holiday-crime-spree-demand-70-million-say-locked-1-million-dev-rcna1339?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

The hacker gang behind an international crime spree that played out over the Fourth of July weekend say they've locked more than a million individual devices and are demanding $70 million in bitcoin to set them all free in one swoop.

The gang, the Russia-connected REvil, is best known for previously hacking JBS, one of the world's largest meat suppliers, and briefly halting its operations across much of North America. But this attack's potential scope is unprecedented, according to some cybersecurity experts.

REvil's began its spree Friday by compromising Kaseya, a software company that helps companies manage basic software updates. Since many of Kaseya's customers are companies that manage internet services for other businesses, the number of victims grew quickly. Instead of locking an individual organization, as ransomware gangs usually do, REvil this time locked each victim computer as a standalone target, and initially asked $45,000 to unlock each specific one.

President Joe Biden has "directed the full resources" of the government toward investigating the problem, he told reporters Sunday.

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