FBI Warns New Hampshire and Massachusetts of ‘Medusa’ Email Attacks

It can't be good if the FBI is warning people that their Gmail and outlook accounts may be subject to cyberattacks. This could affect anyone with a Gmail or outlook account and that is almost everyone I know.

The Ransonware is Called Medusa

So far, more than 300 victims have been targeted.

Hackers will hire people and pay them between $100,000 to $1 million dollars to exploit victims and try to extort as much money as they can get.

According to thehill.com, here's how the scam works:

The ransom note demands victims make contact within 48 hours via either a Tor browser-based live chat, or via Tox, an end-to-end encrypted instant-messaging platform.  If the victim does not respond to the ransom note, Medusa actors will reach out to them directly by phone or email.

 

New Hampshire is Not New to Cyber Attack

According to WMUR, Nashua School District was targeted just before April vacation last year.

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More recently, there has been a number of attacks on New Hampshire school districts.

Massachusetts has experienced over 2,400 security breaches, affecting about 7 million people, according to nbcboston.com.

Here's How New Hampshire and Massachusetts Can Protect Their Accounts

Any sensitive documents that are online should have an offline backup on a private hard drive or other storage device and ideally, that storage device should be encrypted, thehill.com says in the article.

There are other, simpler things that you can do to keep your accounts safe like change your passwords on a regular basis.  I know it's a pain in the buttocks, but it's how we live now.