Personal data of students and staff for ransom

After attacking the Institute of Space Technology (IST), hackers are now demanding a $500,000 ransom.

Located in Islamabad, the Institute of Space Technology (IST) was allegedly attacked by a hacking group called Medusa. According to the details of the incident, hackers targeted the Institute of Space Technology (IST) with ransomware and stole a large amount of personal data of both students and teachers.

The stolen personal data is currently in the possession of hackers who are demanding a $500,000 ransom.

Soon after capturing the data, the Medusa hackers uploaded photo evidence of the stolen data. The photographs included sensitive documents like passports, pay slips, analysis details etc. Along with photo evidence, the hackers wrote a message that the university could buy a $500,000 encryption key to recover the data or it would be released on the dark web.

The post also stated that if the university wanted an extra day to pay the ransom, it could take it at a cost of $10,000.

Announcing the attack, Medusa gave the Institute of Space Technology 9 days to collect the ransom. Almost 2 of those 7 days have now passed, but the university has yet to make any statement or decision on the matter.

This attack on a typical public university shows just how common ransomware attacks have become. Such incidents should be a lesson to all organizations to take cyber security seriously and take important steps.