.png)
Scalable Business Technologies and No Phish Left Behind are not affiliated with nor do we condone illegal and harmful activities. As part of our ongoing efforts to educate the general community and encourage consumer privacy, cyberawareness, and safe browsing, we do occasionally report on larger security breaches strictly to raise awareness and emphasize the importance of cybersecurity training.
Ransomware group Medusa confirmed recently that they have allegedly gained access to sensitive corporate and personal data by infiltrating the network of Wallick Communities, headquartered in New Albany, Ohio.
As per a post on their dark web blog, Medusa plans to leak this data on 5/20/23 unless the victim real estate firm successfully negotiates otherwise.
Medusa is currently demanding a whopping $3,000,000 for the destruction/return of the stolen data.
At the time of this writing, we are not sure how the group gained access to the data; however, in most cases of cybercrime, the point of entry is not brute force through perimeter defense, but rather a sophisticated form of social engineering via phishing, spoofing, or fraudulent software installations.
If you work for or have done business with Wallick Communities:
- Change passwords to any sensitive systems.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication wherever possible.
- Monitor credit usage for fraud.
- Ensure fully patched and up-to-date computing systems and software.
- Report any suspicious activity immediately.
Ransomware is an especially dangerous software that spreads throughout a network and encrypts any system it accesses. Files are typically uploaded to the hackers' servers and held "hostage" until the victim performs certain actions (typically paying the hackers with cryptocurrency).
Hacks like this one can cause devastating harm to companies and their community of customers and business partners, not to mention the extremely high cost of reactive recoveries.
If you, or anyone you know, would like a bit of guidance around the proactive cybersecurity and business continuity planning of your business, please contact Scalable Business Technologies at any time.
"Proper cyber education and training, and a general culture of cyberawareness, will have a greater ROI than any high-dollar technological defense system ever will."
Ojus Wagh, Scalable Business Technologies