The number of successful cyber attacks against UK law firms rose by 77% in the past year to 954, up from 538 the year before, according to a new study of the threat. Chartered accountants Lubbock Fine said that the wave is driven by criminals seeing law firms as prime targets for ransomware attacks or blackmail.
This is due to the sensitive personal and financial information they hold, which hackers can sell on the dark web or threaten to publish on the internet. Earlier this month, a global survey revealed that ransomware attackers have been paid off at least eight times in recent years.
Read more…
Source: The Law Society Gazette
Related:
- 623M Payment Cards Stolen from Cybercrime Forum
April 9, 2021
The Swarmshop cyber-underground “card shop” has been hit by hackers, who lifted the site’s database of stolen payment-card data and leaked it online. That’s according to researchers at Group-IB, who said that the database was posted on a rival underground forum. Card shops, are online cybercriminal forums where stolen payment-card data is bought and sold. Researchers said ...
- Harris Federation hit by ransomware attack affecting 50 schools
March 29, 2021
The IT systems and email servers of London-based nonprofit multi-academy trust Harris Federation were taken down by a ransomware attack on Saturday. Harris Federation is an education charity running 50 Harris primary and secondary academies with 37,000 students from London and surrounding areas. The attack hit the school trust’s systems over the weekend on Saturday, March 27, ...
- Thousands of UK taxpayers’ personal details potentially exposed online through councils’ debt-chasing texts
March 23, 2021
Bulk SMS messages sent by local councils across the UK contained weblinks leading to pages that freely exposed to the public thousands of taxpayers’ names, addresses, and outstanding debts, The Register can reveal. Text messages sent by Telsolutions Ltd on behalf of a dozen local authorities contained shortlinks to webpages urging council tax defaulters to pay ...
- UK colleges and unis urged to prepare for ransomware before it’s too late
March 23, 2021
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has urged universities, schools, and colleges to be vigilant following an increase in ransomware attacks targeting educational institutions. “While operational details cannot be disclosed, the NCSC has dealt with a significant increase in the number of attacks since late February, when establishments were preparing to welcome students back to the ...
- FBI warns of rise in PYSA ransomware operators targeting US, UK schools
March 17, 2021
The FBI has warned of a surge in attacks against schools in which ransomware operators are stealing data to pile on the pressure for payment. In a joint FBI and DHS-CISA flash industry alert (.PDF) this week, law enforcement said a recent increase in attacks leveraging PYSA ransomware, also known as Mespinoza, has been traced to ...
- Universal Health Services lost $67 million due to Ryuk ransomware attack
March 1, 2021
Universal Health Services (UHS) said that the Ryuk ransomware attack it suffered during September 2020 had an estimated impact of $67 million. UHS, a Fortune 500 hospital and healthcare services provider, has over 90,000 employees who provide services to roughly 3.5 million patients each year in more than 400 US and UK healthcare facilities. UHS said last ...

