06 July 2021
Businesses around the globe are dealing with another big ransomware attack, linked to the Russia-connected REvil group that previously hacked meat processor JBS.
Catch up quick: The new attack exploits a flaw in software that middleware provider Kaseya supplied to customers, who are themselves companies that provide managed services to other businesses.
- It's affecting on the order of 1,500 companies, Kaseya said Monday evening.
- The attackers are said to be demanding $70 million in ransom. They are promising to provide a universal decrypter to all affected companies if they receive a lump sum, according to AP.
The big picture: This is a spectacularly successful example of a software supply chain attack — where hackers use vulnerability in a supplier's code to access all its customers' systems.
Yes, but: There's a strong case that managed services providers prevent more attacks than they cause, writes Bloomberg columnist Tim Culpan.
What they're saying:
- Crowdstrike co-founder and former CTO Dmitri Alperovitch: "This is without a doubt going to turn out to be the biggest, most destructive ransomware campaign that we've seen so far."
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior VP Christopher Roberti: "The U.S. government must take the fight to these foreign cybercriminal syndicates."
Go deeper:The ransomware pandemic
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.