“A major payroll company has been crippled by ransomware hackers, leaving some companies around the country scrambling to cover employees’ last paychecks before Christmas and many workers wondering if they’ll get paid on time,” NBC News reported on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 (read story here).
Payroll processing could be down for weeks, the victim company said.
Whole Foods, owned by Amazon, is affected but is trying to process paychecks by hand. Honda, West Virginia state employees, and Cleveland city employees also may get paid via emergency measures.
“Ransomware, where hackers remotely lock computers and demand a payment to fix them …, has become a booming criminal industry,” NBC News said. “The Biden administration has taken several steps to bolster the country’s cybersecurity efforts, and the Department of Defense recently admitted to occasionally knocking some international ransomware actors offline. But the underground hacking world is resilient and persists despite those measures.”
“Ransomware … remains a very big problem, and unfortunately, it’s … not likely to be solved anytime soon,” a cybersecurity expert said.
So here’s what you do. Enlist the CIA, NSA, FBI, and other expert practitioners of the black arts to trace ransomware attacks to the source.
Then give them the Osama bin Laden treatment. If the host government complains, tell them we did them a favor, and send them a bill for services rendered.
Photo: Artist’s conception of “enhanced” ransomware payback