Hacker extorts 0.1 BTC for decoding the website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy

A hacker calling himself X~zakaria has hacked a website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and cole industry and encrypted all its files. He requested to transfer 0,1 BTC to his e-wallet for decoding. Ha...

A form for recovering files appeared on the page of the site after the hacking attack and a message that all files on the site are securely encrypted and it is useless to search for recover options. The only way to get the key for unlocking the site is to transfer the cryptocurrency to the specified wallet. If the extortionist does not receive his money within the allotted time, the files will be deleted. So far, there is no specified amount on the e-wallet of the attacker. There is a counter on the page that shows how much time is left before deleting files.

X ~ zakaria has posted links to the Wikipedia article about bitcoin and the guide to purchasing cryptocurrency, as well as the email address for communication.

Perhaps the work of the hacker was simplified by the fact that the site was not protected by the ssl certificate and worked through the usual HTTP protocol.

The website has shown the logo f the Ministry with a report on technical works for approximately 4 and a half hours. If the officials had a backup copy of the site, they could remove the the damaged version along with the virus by the extortionist, and leave the hacker without foreclosure.

At the end of 2017, Ukrainian governmental websites were already attacked by developers of the virus cryptographer Bad Rabbit, who demanded only 0.05 BTC.

UPD. On April 25, the work of the Ministry's website was restored, and there were no 0,1 BTC enrolled on the e-wallet of the hacker.

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