University of Utah paid hackers $ 457 thousand in cryptocurrency

The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences of the University of Utah was forced to pay 457 thousand dollars in digital assets to the hackers. This was reported by the specialists of the educational institution on their official Internet portal.

So, on July 19, the college’s servers were attacked using ransomware, as a result of which the systems were paralyzed. It is worth noting that the management of the educational institution quickly reacted to the situation by shutting down the servers after the vulnerability was discovered, but the attackers managed to gain access to about 0.02% of the data on employees and students. The ransomware was transferred to a trumpet ransom in cryptocurrency, the main part of which was the funds of the insurance certificate.

“We have invested heavily in solutions to monitor and protect the university community from attacks, including ransomware threats,” the college’s official website notes, and it is indicated that specialists are currently monitoring the network and infrastructure around the clock to assess the emergence of any vulnerabilities and making decisions on their immediate elimination.