Ransomware Attacks: June 2020 | Corona, CA

In this day and age, ransomware cyberattacks are happening every 11 seconds on various industries, making it a big business – a big business that is estimated to cause $20 billion worth of damage by 2021. Manufacturing and government are the hardest hit according to industry, the United States by country.

Ransomware attacks surged again in the month of June with Covid-19 related phishing techniques still proving popular with cybercriminals. Notable attacks include Honda, who had their European operations significantly affected, and the University of California who reportedly paid $1.14 million to recover academic data related to its Covid-19 research. Here is a roundup of the incidents we uncovered:

We start the month in South Africa with telecoms firm Telkom SA SOC Ltd. We found limited coverage of the incident, but it was reported that the attack led to outages across several systems with remote staff unable to connect to the servers or VPN.

Up next is Columbia College in Chicago who were attacked just one week after the attack on Michigan State University. On the Netwalker blog the cybercriminals claimed to have exfiltrated very highly- sensitive data during the attack.

Hackers continued their spree on US colleges when they hit the University of California on the same day. Important Covid-19 research was encrypted during the attack and the school paid out $1.14 million to recover the data.

The City of Florence in Alabama became the next victim on June 5 when an attack shut down the city’s email system. The city reportedly paid over $250K to recover the encrypted data.

The next attack took place at VT San Antonio Aerospace, the US subsidiary of ST Engineering Aerospace in Singapore. The ransomware attack resulted in the exposure of confidential data including government contracts.

Automotive giant Honda suffered an Ekans ransomware attack which targeted its offices in the United States, Europe and Japan. The attack forced many offices to shut down in what was likely the most publicized ransomware incident of the month.

Earlier in the month Australian beverage giant Lion disclosed they had been the victim of a cyberattack, they later confirmed it was ransomware. The company’s data was said to be available on the Dark Web but at the time of writing the company did not have any evidence of data being exfiltrated.

Over to New Mexico next where nuclear missile contractor Westech International was the victim of a Maze ransomware attack. Hackers were able to access sensitive employee information, but it is still unconfirmed whether any classified military information was accessed.

Next up is Norwegian shipbuilder Vard, Europe’s first attack of the month. Local reports indicate that company servers were hit with an encryption attack which led to downtime. The overall extent of the damage has not yet been disclosed.

Fisher and Paykel, a whitegoods manufacturer based in New Zealand disclosed they had been targeted by Nefilim. Although quickly identified, the hackers did disclose an initial leak of the company’s corporate files on the Dark Web.

New York company Threadstone Advisors, a mergers and acquisitions firm whose client list includes Victoria Beckham, were hit by Maze ransomware. The gang insists that they had exfiltrated and encrypted the company’s data.

An overnight attack hit the City of Knoxville in Tennessee. Fortunately emergency services were not affected in the attack but by the time it was noticed by the IT department the ransomware had already encrypted multiple systems. Knoxville joins a list of affected cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver and New Orleans.

Back to Europe now where this time it was European Energy giant Enel Group. The incident was the work of the Snake ransomware group who were also responsible for the attack at Honda earlier in the month.

Rhode Island-based Care New England (CNE) was victim of a cyberattack that hit its servers on June 16. The suspected ransomware attack forced the shutdown of its website and other internal systems.

Up next is Florida based ConnectWise who hit the headlines when it was revealed that their partners were hit by ransomware through a software flaw in their platform.

Electronics giant LG is reportedly being threatened by the Maze ransomware gang, however at the time of writing no official statement had been issued by the company.

Closing out the month is another suspected attack on car giant Mitsubishi. The Doppelpaymer gang are allegedly threatening to leak data from the organization, although at the time of writing there has been no official statement from the company.

To read more about the ransomware attacks of 2020, click here.

Call Up & Running Computer Solutions in Corona, CA for help with your computer issues at 951-737-8558. Learn more at our website at www.urcs.net.

Up & Running Computer Solutions proudly serves Corona and all surrounding areas.

The ABCs of Malware | Corona, CA

Virus Alert

In the day and age that revolves around the internet, it is important that we make sure to protect ourselves from anything that can affect our way to stay in touch online. That is why it is very important to know the difference between the things harming your computer. You may have heard of the term virus, but a virus is just the common term for a bigger threat – malware. The term “malware” refers to any type of malicious software that’s designed to infect your computer or mobile device, including a computer virus and is designed to specifically hard and infect host systems. Let’s break them all down:

Virus. This is a contagious program that attaches itself to another piece of software, and then progresses to reproduce itself when the software is running.

Adware. Adware is the least dangerous and most profitable malware. It displays ads on your computer.

Spyware. This is a software that spies on you by tracking your internet activity in order to send adware back to your machine.

Worms. This is a program that replicates itself and destroys data and files on your computer. Worms are designed to “eat” the system operating files and data till the drive is completely empty.

Trojan horse. The most dangerous, Trojans are designed to discover your financial information and take over your computers system resources.

Ransomware. If you see a screen that warns you that you have been locked out of your computer until you pay for your cybercrimes, you have ransomware. Even if you do pay to unlock your system, you are not free from of it locking you out again.

Call Up & Running Computer Solutions in Corona, CA for help with your computer issues at 951-737-8558. Learn more at our website at www.urcs.net.

Up & Running Computer Solutions proudly serves Prescott Valley and all surrounding areas.

Is It Malware or a Virus? | Corona, CA

headache over computer problems

In a world where it seems everything is getting hacked, it is easy to panic when something goes wrong with your computer equipment. The slightest glitch or stall and we are thinking the worst. And when we think of the worst thing that can happen to this equipment, we will generally think about computer viruses. Yes, the evil computer virus is the original enemy of the typical computer user, and in this day and age, it is impossible to not use some type of computer in our daily lives.

Then you hear about malware and a whole new set of questions and concerns come to mind. Let’s break it down – a virus is just one kind of malware, but the actual term is largely used by the public and the only way to protect yourself is to have some type of an anti-virus. The following are various types of malware designed to infect your computer or mobile device:

Adware. Adware is the least dangerous and most profitable malware. It displays ads on your computer.

Spyware. This software spies on you by tracking your internet activity in order to send adware back to your machine.

Worms. A worm replicates itself and destroys data and files on your computer until the drive is completely empty.

Trojan horse. One of the most dangerous malwares, Trojans are designed to discover your financial information and take over your computer’s system resources.

Ransomware. If you see a screen that warns you that you have been locked out of your computer until you pay for your “cybercrimes”, you have ransomware.

Call Up & Running Computer Solutions in Corona, CA for help with malware protection at 951-737-8558. Learn more at our website at www.urcs.net.

Up & Running Computer Solutions proudly serve Corona and all surrounding areas.

Cryptolocker Prevention Tips | IT Services Corona, CA

Virus Alert

Cryptolocker is a malicious malware that cyber criminals designed to attack Windows operating systems by encrypting all of the files from the system.  These cyber criminals have been emailing it to massive numbers of people, mostly targeting the US and UK. Tens of thousands of machines have been affected by Cryptolocker, don’t be next. Here are some a few tips to avoid this ransomware virus:

  • Make sure to update your operating system and security software regularly.
  • Be sure to back up important data regularly and keep it on unconnected storage.
  • Make sure to keep up with the most recent security patches and other fixes.
  • Be sure to keep your anti-virus and internet security up to date.
  • Don’t open attachments from suspicious email addresses or unknown senders.
  • If you think your computer has been infected make sure to change network passwords and online account passwords right away.

If think your computer has been infected with Cryptolocker or another type of virus, contact Up & Running Computer Solutions in Corona, CA for help today or visit our website at www.URSC.net.

Proudly serving Corona, Riverside, Anaheim, Irvine, Newport Beach, Tustin, and all surrounding areas.

Don’t Pay Up to Ransomware | Computer Repair Corona, CA

If you’ve visited the webpages of The Huffington Post or LA Weekly, you may have contracted a virus. This virus seems to have only affected people running Windows PCs using outdated browsers such as Internet Explorer 8. The culprit is a ransomware called Kover malware, with ransomware the threat operator takes control of your computer and locks it. The malware ran on AOL ads between Dec.31 till Jan.5th, says researchers, and there have been around 15,000 infections.

Once Kover locks your computer it figures out your location and tailors a message saying that you have broken the law. This message that appears on your screen states that you have to pay a fine before a certain deadline or you will face severe fines and jail time. This “fine” is a ransom and typically they want you to pay around $300 to regain the use of your computer. Kover targets people who have visited adult websites, but anyone is fair game with this malware. Kover will manufacture their own “evidence” and lock your screen.

It’s important to keep in mind that if you do contract this malware, paying the ransom will not restore or remove the malware from your system. Don’t be a victim, use trusted browsers and sources to keep you and your computer protected.

If you think you may have contracted a virus or are in need computer repairs, call Up & Running Computer Solutions in Corona, CA for help at 951-737-8558. We can repair your computer and get you back up and running! To learn more about our company or to put in a service request visit our website at www.urcs.net.

 Proudly serving Corona, Riverside, Anaheim, Irvine, Newport Beach, Tustin and all surrounding areas.

Beware of Ransomware! | Computer Repair | Corona, CA

Computer owners beware! There is a new Ransomware computer virus going around. Ransomware is malicious software that gets installed on your computer and criminals can lock it from another location. You will get a pop up window warning that looks like it’s from an official authority. They say something about your computer being locked because of illegal activity and demand payment before you can access your computer again. Computer repair will then be needed.

The newest ransomware has a pop up with the FBI logo, warning you that you are guilty of illegal music downloads or some other illegal internet activity. Then your computer locks up. The message tells you to pay a fine or you will be arrested. It states that if you pay the fine your computer will be unlocked. This is a scam. Do not give money, credit card information or personal information to anyone asking for it on your computer and seek a computer repair technician immediately.

Antivirus companies are constantly working to keep up with the newest viruses to prevent this from happening. However, computer criminals are always finding new ways to get around antivirus software security. Be sure to keep all your antivirus software up to date.

If you happen to get a ransomware virus and are in need of computer repair or need antivirus software installed contact Up and Running Computer Solutions for help at 951-737-8558. Visit our website at www.urcs.net.

Proudly serving Corona, Irvine, Riverside, Anaheim, Newport Beach, Tustin and all surrounding areas.