{"id":55183,"date":"2016-11-14T16:19:03","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T16:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=55183"},"modified":"2016-11-14T16:19:03","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T16:19:03","slug":"18k-pension-plans-hacked-held-ransom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/18k-pension-plans-hacked-held-ransom\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 18K Pension Plans Hacked and Held Ransom"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to BNA<\/a>, cyber criminals\u00a0gained access to a pension plans affiliated with Missouri-based Schnucks, Dierbergs Markets and Shop \u2018n Save supermarkets.\u00a0 This hack impacted over 18,000 files, although the information retrieved by the hackers is unknown.\u00a0 Collin Reischman, a spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 in Ballwin, Missouri reported the organization has increased security measures following the security breach.\u00a0 Although it is not believed any personal information was taken, Local 655 is offering free credit reporting services to all pension plan participants.<\/p>\n

This ransomware attack took place in July of 2016.\u00a0 The hackers held over 18,000 files for ransom.\u00a0 The financial demand made was for $2,000 USD.\u00a0 The organizations used back up files to restore their systems, and hired a third party agency to investigate the security breach and secure their systems.\u00a0 As of November 9th, the pension plan participants information that could have been leaked includes prior employment history, social security numbers and birthdates.<\/p>\n

To prevent ransomware attacks, we recommend the use of PC Matic <\/a>for home users, and PC Matic Pro<\/a> for business use.<\/p>\n

To see a full list of ransomware attacks that have taken place, you can click here<\/a>. We have also created a ransomware map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S. this year.<\/p>\n