The City of Johannesburg has shut down its website and online services, reporting a cyber-attack following a series of ransom notes sent to the city. The ransom, sent by a group calling itself the Shadow Kill Hackers, is demanding 4.0 bitcoin from City of Joburg.
Ransomware usually spreads via phishing emails or links to infected websites, relying on human error to gain access to systems. As its name suggests, ransomware is designed to block access to data, systems or services until a ransom is paid. At a technical level, cities tend to be fairly easy targets because they often have bespoke operating systems, with parts that are old and out-of-date, as well as ineffective back-up measures.
If you thought last week’s ransomware attack on City Power sounded like a movie script, it’s because that kind of scary possibility has been fictional fodder for years. Films have long proposed the idea of hackers taking over a computer network for their own nefarious ends.