Radio stations and TV channels, the next ransomware victims
Cybersecurity services specialists reported a ransomware attack that temporarily affected the operations of the community radio station WMNF 88.5 – FM, based in Tampa, Florida.
According to statements by interim general
manager Cindy Reichard, that nasty incident began sometime on June 18. The next
day, one of the radio station’s programmers detected strange behavior on the
computer of one of the studios.
While trying to make a diagnosis, the station’s
employees received a digital note that mentioned: “Your files have been
encrypted. Pay the ransom and you’ll be able to recover them”. It is
clearly a ransomware attack, mentioned experts in cybersecurity services. As
noted before, this happens when an attacker installs malicious code to block
access to the victim’s information or systems, demanding a payment in exchange
for enabling access again.
After an emergency meeting, radio station
officials decided not to pay the ransom and report the incident to the Florida Department
of Justice. “The authorities assured us that sometimes ransomware victims
send money to hackers and in the end they do not recover access to their
systems”.
The main impact of the station occurred in the
AudioVault system, which stores the audio files of the station, such as old
programs, songs or pre-recorded promotional material, reported by experts in
cybersecurity services. Therefore, some audio files stored on this system could
be lost forever.
On the other hand, the station claims that its
confidential files, such as bills, donators’ data or payroll records, were not
compromised during the incident. However, security monitoring is still being
implemented to prevent any further incidents.
The incident also interrupted the live
broadcast of the station; for now, the radio station is broadcasting only music
and recorded emissions, at least until the recovery process is complete;
additional details, such as the malware
variant used by hackers or the ransom amount are still unknown. According to
experts from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS), the station
sent the compromised server to a cybersecurity firm, where they will try to
recover as many files as possible.
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