Hundreds of US companies hit by 'devastating' ransomware attack

A security firm said the REvil gang, a Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears to be responsible for the attack.

A "colossal and devastating" ransomware attack is thought to have paralysed the networks of at least 200 US companies.

The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has said it is closely monitoring the situation and is working with the FBI to collect more information about the impact of the attack.

John Hammond of the security firm Huntress Labs said the REvil gang, a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears to be responsible for the attack.

REvil steals data from its targets before activating the ransomware to strengthen its extortion efforts.

Mr Hammond said the criminals targeted a software supplier called Kaseya, using its network management as a way to spread the ransomware through cloud-service providers.

"Kaseya handles large enterprise all the way to small businesses globally, so ultimately, (this) has the potential to spread to any size or scale business," he said on Twitter.

"This is a colossal and devastating supply chain attack."

Read the full article from Sky news here: https://news.sky.com/story/hundreds-of-us-companies-hit-by-devastating-ransomware-attack-cyber-experts-say-12347801