Indonesian government ransomware hackers apologize, give out encryption key

Date:
Fri, 05 Jul 2024 10:33:19 +0000

Description:
Despite asking for $8 million, the group says it wasn't haggling, and now pleads for forgiveness.

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Hackers that used ransomware to recently l ock servers belonging to the Indonesian government, disrupting the everyday lives of millions of citizens, have apologized for their misbehavior.

Singaporean dark web intelligence firm Stealth Mole has published a message allegedly written by the Brain Cipher ransomware organization, stating, "Citizens of Indonesia, we apologize for the fact that it affected everyone."

The group added it was only acting as penetration testers, and released a decryptor to restore the locked files. Attacking the National Data Center

The group also said it wasnt pressured into apologizing and restoring the files, not by the government, or by anyone else.

"We hope that our attack made it clear to you how important it is to finance the industry and recruit qualified specialists," the letter further reads.
"In this case, the attack was so easy that it took us very little time to unload the data and encrypt several thousand terabytes of information.

"We're not haggling," the attackers said, despite having previously demanded $8 million in exchange for keeping the data safe, and for sharing the decryption key - an offer the Indonesian government turned down.

Now, the attackers are sharing a key, in the form of a 54 kb ESXi file, whose validity is yet to be confirmed.

Indonesian government officials had confirmed its National Data Center (PDN) was struck on June 20, with the attack apparently organized by an affiliate
of LockBit, and the encryptor used was LockBit 3.0.

At least 210 national institutions were affected by the incident, including the nations immigration office, which led to problems in issuing passports, visas, residence permits, and similar - leading to long lines at airports around the country.

Via The Register More from TechRadar Pro Indonesian government says national data center was hit in ransomware attack - but it won't pay up Here's a list of the best firewalls today These are the best endpoint protection tools
right now



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/ransomware-hackers-who-hit-indonesian-g overnment-apologize-hand-over-encryption-key


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