[BreachExchange] Law Society says members victim of ransomware attack

[Destry Winant]

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/law-society-says-members-victim-of-ransomware-attack-1.4895356?cache=yes%3FclipId%3D68596%3FclipId%3D89830%3FclipId%3D104070

WINNIPEG -- The Law Society of Manitoba is warning its members to be
vigilant online after two firms in the province were victims of
ransomware attacks tied to COVID-19.

The organization confirmed the information in a news release on its
website, saying the firms were victimized by a ransomware file known
as MAZE.

“As a result of the virus attack, they have no access to email, Word,
their accounting software, or any of their backups, including cloud
backups,” the society wrote in the release. “Everything is tied up by
MAZE and they have been asked to pay an enormous ransom to regain
access to any of their work.”

The Law Society said it suspects someone clicked on a link or an
attachment in an email that was infected with a virus, which in turn
infected the firms’ entire systems.

They added the infected attachments appeared to be COVID-19 related.
Examples of attachments in the news release included a map listing
COVID-19 outbreaks, a link to register for a seminar to discuss
COVID-19 responses, emails purportedly from vendors about COVID-19 and
SMS messages inviting people to click on links advising about modified
firm operations.

The society reminded members to not click on links from senders they
don’t know, and confirm if the message is legitimate if it’s from
someone they know. They added the firms are working with IT
professionals and cyber insurers to recover the data.

“At this point, we do not know when or if they will ever regain
complete access to their kidnapped data,” the society said.