2017 • Page 9 of 46 • PC Matic Blog

NY Hospital Dumps $10M to Rebuild Systems After Ransomware Attack

Kayla Elliott / October 11, 2017

Ransomware completely took over Erie County Medical Center’s (ECMC) computer systems in April. The malware completely corrupted the systems, and the hackers demanded $30,000 in ransom if they wanted the systems restored. Instead, the medical facility spent approximately $10 million to rebuild its systems. Roughly half of those funds were the cost of hardware, software, and […]

NY Hospital Dumps $10M to Rebuild Systems After Ransomware Attack Read More »

Kaspersky is having Twitter Trouble - U.S. government orders federal agencies to remove the antivirus.

Israel Warned U.S. of Kaspersky After Hacking Their Network

Kayla Elliott / October 11, 2017

Israel Raises Concerns to U.S. Regarding Kaspersky Labs Americans now have a better idea why the government has decided to block federal agencies from using Russian-based security company, Kaspersky Labs, products. Engadget reported, “Israel-linked hackers were watching Russian hackers breach an NSA contractor’s computer in real-time using a popular anti-virus tool. “ During this process,

Israel Warned U.S. of Kaspersky After Hacking Their Network Read More »

FormBook Targets U.S. Defense Contractors, Aerospace Firms & Manufacturing Sector

Kayla Elliott / October 10, 2017

Latest Malware, FormBook, Targeting Major Organizations FormBook, a new malware variant has been targeting aerospace firms, U.S. defense contractors and manufacturing organizations in the U.S. and South Korea. This latest malware uses an executable that is included as a malicious attachment within phishing campaigns. Depending on the country being targeting the email attachment varies. For

FormBook Targets U.S. Defense Contractors, Aerospace Firms & Manufacturing Sector Read More »

WordPress Plugin Hack Went Undetected For 5 Years

Kayla Elliott / October 9, 2017

WordPress Plugin Leaves Users Vulnerable Disqus, a popular WordPress plugin, revealed they were the victims of a data breach. Disqus is used for bloggers to allow individuals to comment on their articles. The hack began in July of 2012, and could be one of the longest undetected breaches, as it was just recently discovered. On

WordPress Plugin Hack Went Undetected For 5 Years Read More »

Shutting Down the Infinite Alert Hoax for Good

Kayla Elliott / October 9, 2017

Infinite Alert Hoax Could Be Taken Offline, With Your Help October is cyber security awareness month, and it is during this month PC Pitstop hopes to put the infinite alert hoax to bed. Once and for all. However, in order to do so, we will need your help. Infinite Alert Hoax This hoax occurs when

Shutting Down the Infinite Alert Hoax for Good Read More »

Ransomware Attacks Denver Metro Area

Kayla Elliott / October 6, 2017

City’s Internal Systems Taken Offline After Cyber Attack The City of Englewood, a metropolitan area of the Denver-Aurora Colorado area, was hit with ransomware on October 3rd. Once officials determined the systems had been compromised, they were taken offline in an attempt to prevent the ransomware from spreading. The infection impacted all of the city’s

Ransomware Attacks Denver Metro Area Read More »

Cyber Security Hygiene Affects Network and Endpoint Security with Application Whitelisting

Your Weekly IT Top News Recap

Kayla Elliott / October 6, 2017

This Week’s IT Top News Stories This week several news stories broke from breaches to new malware variants to new contracts. Here are the five top news stories you may have missed out on: Sonic confirmed data breach – Last week, over five million credit and debit card numbers were dumped on the dark web.

Your Weekly IT Top News Recap Read More »

Kremlin Hackers Use Kaspersky Antivirus to Obtain NSA Data

Kayla Elliott / October 5, 2017

New Developments Explain How Russia Obtained NSA’s Internal Details – And Guess Who’s in the Middle?? In 2015, the National Security Agency (NSA) suffered a data breach, that went undetected until early spring of 2016. The breach was direct aftermath of a contractor transferring highly classified information to his home PC. The hackers, who were

Kremlin Hackers Use Kaspersky Antivirus to Obtain NSA Data Read More »

Locky Ransomware Returns as Ykcol

Kayla Elliott / October 5, 2017

Locky Encrypts Files Leaving a .Ykcol Extension A new Locky variant has been released into the wild and upon initial review it led researchers to a believe it was a new strain entirely, called Ykcol. However, after additional review, experts have confirmed Ykcol is another version of Locky. The email subject line has been confirmed

Locky Ransomware Returns as Ykcol Read More »

Debugging and Unpacking Malicious Software

PC Matic Malware Research / October 4, 2017

READ FIRST: Disclaimer – Malware can destroy data, damage your computer, cause your computer to damage other computers, steal information, or cause other harm to property and even life in the case of a system which is in control of some equipment or machinery. When analyzing malware, you must always do so on a machine

Debugging and Unpacking Malicious Software Read More »