Many media outlets in Cyprus report that the team hacker "Medusa" gave to disclosure of personal data acquired by the Open University of Cyprus after the institution failed to pay a $100.000 ransom demanded by the group.
The cyber attack occurred on March 27, with the hackers then demanding payment in cryptocurrency to keep the data from being released. The university refused to pay, so the hackers decided to publish the data on the dark web. The volume of personal data obtained by the hackers has not been confirmed.
Security expert Dinos Pastos argued that the information may consist of terabytes data. The full implications of the leak will not be known until the exact nature of the data is confirmed.
Ilias Tsapsidis, Brand Manager ESET Cyprus and Malta, comments:
"This incident highlights the importance of strong cyber defenses. Attacks Ransomware όπως αυτή γίνονται όλο και πιο συχνές και οι οργανισμοί πρέπει να λαμβάνουν προληπτικά μέτρα για να προστατεύουν τα ευαίσθητα δεδομένα τους από αυτές τις απειλές. Προτρέπουμε όλους τους οργανισμούς να διασφαλίσουν ότι διαθέτουν ένα ολοκληρωμένο σχέδιο δημιουργίας αντιγράφων ασφαλείας και να δοκιμάζουν τακτικά τα συστήματα ασφαλείας τους για τον εντοπισμό και την prevention such attacks. It is vital that they have a robust incident response plan in place to minimize the impact of any cyber attack.”