Ransomware attack on US tech firm Kaseya ‘may have affected 1,000 businesses’
- The hackers who struck on Friday hijacked widely used technology management software from Miami-based supplier Kaseya
- Russian-based hackers have been blamed for recent ransomware attacks and US President Joe Biden has raised the threat in talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin
A ransomware attack on a US IT company potentially targeted 1,000 businesses, researchers said on Saturday, with one of Sweden’s biggest supermarket chains revealing it had to temporarily close around 800 shops after losing access to its checkouts.
Kaseya said on Friday evening it had limited the attack to “a very small percentage of our customers” who use its signature VSA software – “currently estimated at fewer than 40 worldwide.”
But cybersecurity firm Huntress Labs said in a Reddit forum that it was working with partners targeted in the attack, and that the software was manipulated “to encrypt more than 1,000 companies.”
Biden on Saturday ordered a full investigation, while adding “the initial thinking was it was not the Russian government, but we’re not sure yet.”