University of Calgary Forced to Pay Ransom to Hackers
This is going to be an increasingly frequent problem since many colleges have outdated technology.
The Daily Caller reports.
Canadian University Forced To Pay $15k Ransom To Hackers
The University of Calgary was forced to pay 20,000 Canadian dollars (around $15,700) to hackers who infiltrated the college’s information technology systems.
The cybercriminals committed the ransomware attack by encrypting the school’s data and keeping critical computer files from officials and staff.
In a statement posted on its website Wednesday, the University of Calgary wrote, “The expertise of our IT department allowed the university to isolate the effects of the attack and make significant progress toward restoration of the affected portions of our systems.”
Linda Dalgetty, vice president of finances and services at the university, offered justification for the school’s willingness to compromise with criminals at a news conference Tuesday. “We did that solely so we could protect the quality and the nature of the information we generate at the university. We do world-class research here…and we did not want to be in a position that we had exhausted the option to get people’s potential life work back.”
Canadian University Forced To Pay $15k Ransom To Hackers (The Daily Caller)
Comments
At first glance I’d say the problem isn’t outdated technology. Back when their technology was flint knives and bearskins, or even paper in file cabinets, it wasn’t hacked. The problem would be incompetent procedures.
Particularly now that bulk storage is so cheap, there’s little excuse for single-point vulnerabilities. Nothing terribly clever is involved, simple multiple redundancies would usually do the job.
In fact, this is so simple one has to wonder why the University’s AI guy didn’t have it covered as a matter of routine. It’s so blatant that the law’s mythical Reasonable Man might, in this case, suspect an inside job.
All these companies, hospitals, and universities being hacked is because of people not want to spend the money to prevent nor prepare for such and occurrence because it is to “expensive”. They say, ‘oh it won’t happen to me’; then complain when it does and wonder why.The hackers are not going through a complicated process to achieve their goal, no, they are keeping it simply knowing that people won’t seal the smallest, oldest, wide known exploits.