In an email provided to TechCrunch, the House technology service desk warned representatives of increased ransomware attacks on the House network. The email warns that attackers are focusing their efforts on third-party email apps, like YahooMail and Gmail, and tells representatives that access to YahooMail will be blocked on House networks.
“When a user clicks on the link in the attack e-mail, the malware encrypts all files on that computer, including shared files, making them unusable until a ‘ransom’ is paid. The recent attacks have focused on using .js files attached as zip files to e-mail that appear to come from known senders,” the email notes.
It certainly sounds like a representative or one of their staff members fell victim to one of the attacks, which occurred in late April, but a spokesperson for the House Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) declined to confirm whether or not the ransomware attacks were successful. See the full story at TechCrunch.
Probably a very good idea to step all our representatives through effective security awareness training.
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