Yesterday, Comparitech reported that Ransomware gang Medusa over the weekend claimed responsibility for last week’s cyber attack against Fall River Public Schools in Bristol County, Massachusetts.
In the blog post reporting this news, Paul Bischoff, Consumer Privacy Advocate at Comparitech, wrote:
“Medusa is a ransomware gang that first surfaced in September 2019. It debuted its leak site in February 2023, where it publishes stolen data of victims who don’t pay ransoms. Medusa often uses a double-extortion approach in which victims are forced to pay both to decrypt their systems and for not selling or publishing stolen data.”
“In 2025 so far, Medusa claimed responsibility 10 confirmed ransomware attacks and made 69 unconfirmed claims that have not been acknowledged by the targeted organizations. Many of those attacks targeted schools. Its attacks on Lee University and Laurens County School District 56 were both confirmed this year.”
“Medusa has claimed 24 confirmed ransomware attacks on schools and other educational institutions around the world since the group started publicizing its targets. Its average ransom demand is $430,000.”
“So far in 2025, Comparitech researchers logged 12 confirmed ransomware attacks on US schools and colleges. Last year, we recorded 75 such attacks, which compromised at least 2.8 million records. The average ransom demand is $815,000.”
“Ransomware attacks on schools and other education facilities can disrupt day-to-day operations such as taking attendance, submitting grades, phone and email communications, billing, payroll, and assignments. Ransomware attacks are often two-pronged: they lock down systems and steal data. Schools that refuse to pay can face extended downtime, lose data, and put students and faculty at increased risk of fraud.”
Ransomware attacks are insanely prevalent. That’s bad as they need to go in the other direction to keep everyone safe. Thus more needs to be done to turn this around and it needs to be done ASAP.
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This entry was posted on April 15, 2025 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Ransomware gang demands $400K from Massachusetts school district
Yesterday, Comparitech reported that Ransomware gang Medusa over the weekend claimed responsibility for last week’s cyber attack against Fall River Public Schools in Bristol County, Massachusetts.
In the blog post reporting this news, Paul Bischoff, Consumer Privacy Advocate at Comparitech, wrote:
“Medusa is a ransomware gang that first surfaced in September 2019. It debuted its leak site in February 2023, where it publishes stolen data of victims who don’t pay ransoms. Medusa often uses a double-extortion approach in which victims are forced to pay both to decrypt their systems and for not selling or publishing stolen data.”
“In 2025 so far, Medusa claimed responsibility 10 confirmed ransomware attacks and made 69 unconfirmed claims that have not been acknowledged by the targeted organizations. Many of those attacks targeted schools. Its attacks on Lee University and Laurens County School District 56 were both confirmed this year.”
“Medusa has claimed 24 confirmed ransomware attacks on schools and other educational institutions around the world since the group started publicizing its targets. Its average ransom demand is $430,000.”
“So far in 2025, Comparitech researchers logged 12 confirmed ransomware attacks on US schools and colleges. Last year, we recorded 75 such attacks, which compromised at least 2.8 million records. The average ransom demand is $815,000.”
“Ransomware attacks on schools and other education facilities can disrupt day-to-day operations such as taking attendance, submitting grades, phone and email communications, billing, payroll, and assignments. Ransomware attacks are often two-pronged: they lock down systems and steal data. Schools that refuse to pay can face extended downtime, lose data, and put students and faculty at increased risk of fraud.”
Ransomware attacks are insanely prevalent. That’s bad as they need to go in the other direction to keep everyone safe. Thus more needs to be done to turn this around and it needs to be done ASAP.
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This entry was posted on April 15, 2025 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.