PC Matic Blog

28 Criminal Charges Dismissed After Ransomware Corrupts Evidence

Kayla Elliott / February 28, 2020

Ransomware Corrupted Police Files, Leaving Evidence Inaccessible In April of 2019, the City of Stuart was infected with ransomware. Ransomware is a form of malicious software the will encrypt, or lock, files leaving them completely inaccessible. From there, the hackers demand a payment in exchange for a decryption key. For Stuart, Florida, that price tag […]

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If New Orleans Officials Weren’t Superstitious Before, They Are Now…

Kayla Elliott / December 16, 2019

Ransomware Plagues the City of New Orleans in Early Morning Hours of Friday the 13th The city of New Orleans remains under a State of Emergency after ransomware corrupted their networks at approximately 5 a.m. Friday morning. City officials have confirmed, limited networks have been impacted as a result of this cyber attack. Of those

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Ransomware Epidemic Worldwide

Mary James / October 29, 2019

Johannesburg Suffers Yet Another Ransomware Attack A second ransomware attack has left the town of Johannesburg, South Africa scrambling again. The website and essential digital services have been suspended while the city deals with the breach. Hackers claimed, “We have dozens of backdoors inside your city. We have control of everything…” This includes personal population

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Ransomware Continues to Spread Across the Nation

Kayla Elliott / October 1, 2019

Ransomware has proven it’s an epidemic of massive proportions… Over the last week, several new ransomware attacks have gone public. This includes attacks against Houston County Schools of Georgia, Ava School District in Missouri, CHI Health of Nebraska, and Berry Family Services in Texas. In addition, Wood Ranch Medical, located in Simi Valley, California was

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Texas City Works to Restore Networks, Post-Ransomware Attack

Kayla Elliott / September 18, 2019

Police Department Loses Images After Ransomware Infected City Systems The city of Robstown is working to restore their networks after an unknown ransomware variant riddled their networks, effectively corrupting Robstown Police Department records. To date, the last four weeks of police camera footage, including pictures and videos have been encrypted. The city is working with

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Ransomware Plagues Utah’s Premier Family Medical Clinics

Kayla Elliott / September 12, 2019

Ryuk Ransomware Riddles 11 Medical Facilities in Utah In July, eleven of Utah’s Premier Family Medical clinics were infected with ransomware. After an initial investigation of the cyber attack, it was determined the hackers used the ransomware variant called Ryuk to corrupt Premier Family Medical’s networks. Ryuk, is a ransomware variant known to target large

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Attackers Find a New Way to Spread Ransomware Faster Than Ever

Kayla Elliott / September 4, 2019

Ransomware has been riddling home users, business entities, governments, schools, and more for years. The attacks have grown in frequency, with ransom demands growing as well. In order to continue their profitability, hackers have to find new ways to infect networks. This includes exploiting software vulnerabilities, using social engineering, creating new versions of malware, and

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Ransomware Riddles American Schools in August

Kayla Elliott / September 3, 2019

Ransomware Infects Public Schools Nationwide Throughout the month of August, several public school districts across the nation fell victim to ransomware. Here is what we know, the ransomware variants differed from attack to attack, although the most frequently used ransomware strain was Ryuk. This specific ransomware-type piggy-backs of a trojan virus. Once the trojan successfully

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New York School District Pays Hackers $100,000

Kayla Elliott / August 27, 2019

Rockville Centre School District Forks Out Thousands After falling victim to ransomware, the Rockville Centre School District decided to follow the path of least resistance — pay the ransom demands. The school had a cyber insurance policy, which helped to cover the cost of the $100,000 payment, as well as assist with the payment and

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Ransomware Forces Brookside Medical Clinic To Close Its Doors

Kayla Elliott / August 22, 2019

Midwestern Clinic Shuts Down After Ransomware Attack In March, ransomware corrupted Brookside Medical Center, located in Battle Creek, Michigan. After paralyzing the clinic by encrypting all of their patient files, the clinic’s partners reached out to FBI officials. The FBI encouraged the clinic not to pay the $6,500 in ransom demands for two reasons. First,

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Ransomware Reports