On July 10, 2019, New York's Monroe college campuses were infected by ransomware that shut down its computer systems and website. The networks of the campuses in Bronx, New Rochelle, Saint Lucia, and Manhattan were affected. The attackers have demanded a ransom of 170 Bitcoins, valued at about $2 million, in exchange for decryption keys.
Since the email systems are down, students and faculty are resorting to using their personal email addresses for communication. Since Monroe College's payroll system is handled by a third-party vendor, it was unaffected in the attack. Their in-house IT security team and an external forensics team have been working on getting the network up and running. The college has still not confirmed if they will be paying the ransom to the attackers.
Despite the attack, classes remain in session. Monroe College spokesperson Jackie Ruegger said, “The good news is that the college was founded in 1933, so we know how to teach and educate without these tools.” The school authorities have notified local law enforcement and the FBI about the attack.
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Investing in a ransomware detection tool helps you detect and respond to ransomware attacks in real time to minimize the impact on your organization. Here are some you can adopt to handle ransomware attacks.
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