Erebus ransomware stroked again – this time demanding the largest ever ransom fee.
As much as malware experts advice against paying the ransom fee in a case of a ransomware infection, victims continue to transfer funds to hackers in exchange for their valuable data. No wonder why ransomware attacks are now continuously growing in popularity and are so beneficial for their creators.
Thus so, on June 10, South Korean web provider Nayana had to pay $1 million to hackers to free their servers that have been infected with ransomware. This is the largest ransom fee ever paid by one single victim. In contrast, WannaCry ransomware has hit 200,000 computers, bringing $127,142 to attackers.
Hackers have hit 153 Linux servers hosted by Nayana, which automatically blocked 3,400 websites. To free the servers, hackers demanded 550 bitcoins, which was about $1,62 million. Nayana then negotiated with the hackers to reduce the amount to $1 million, and two-thirds have been paid already.
The company will pay the rest once all servers have been restored.
Researchers from Trend Micro have reported that the ransomware used for this attack is Erebus, which is known for targeting Linux servers and in South Korea particularly. Erebus is a relatively old virus first released in 2015, and has been spread mainly via web ads. Although it was quiet for awhile, it was spread out again in February – locking servers and demanding a hefty ransom fee in return.
We strongly advise against paying the ransom fee in case of a ransomware infection. This would only encourage cyber criminals to continue spreading ransomware infections. Instead, make sure you have a reliable anti-malware tool that would protect your system from online threats.
