Washington
Up to 1,500 businesses around the world may have been affected by a major ransomware attack that has shuttered hundreds of Swedish supermarkets, according to the American IT company at the centre of the hack.
Miami-based firm Kaseya, which provides IT services to some 40,000 businesses globally, said customers of its clients were the main victims of the attack, which saw hackers demand $70 million in bitcoin in exchange for the return of stolen data.
“We understand the total impact thus far has been to fewer than 1,500 downstream businesses,” Kaseya said in an update on its website late Monday.
The tech company said only 60 of its own customers may have been affected by the ransomware attack — an increasingly lucrative form of digital hostage-taking in which hackers encrypt victims’ data and then demand money for restored access.—AFP
