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Hackers demanded a ransom of $ 240 million in BTC from the MediaMarkt trading network

MediaMarkt, a large European chain of electronics and home appliances stores, fell victim to the ransomware Hive.

European chain of electronics stores on Sunday evenings and Monday
underwent a cyber attack that blocked the company’s servers and workstations. In order to localize the attack, the security service shut down the information system of the trading network. As a result, cash registers of stores in Germany and the Netherlands are not
did not serve credit cards and did not print receipts to customers, nor could they issue a refund.

During the attack, organized by the hacker group Hive Ransomware, 3,100 servers and computers of the trading network were affected. The ransomware initially requested a ransom of 240 million in BTC to unlock servers and workstations. During the negotiations, the ransom amount was reduced.

The MediaMarktSaturn Retail group has turned to law enforcement and is conducting its own investigation with the involvement of cybersecurity specialists. It is not yet clear if the information was leaked. Hive ransomware steals files and publishes them on the HiveLeaks group site if the ransom is not paid.

Ransomware has become a major global problem this year. The US Financial Crimes Agency reported that the total amount of payments in cryptocurrencies to cybercriminals using ransomware was $ 5.2 billion. In October, US Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed requiring companies to report payments to ransomware operators in order to fight them more effectively. In April, the US authorities organized a meeting with representatives of 30 states to combat ransomware viruses and the illegal use of cryptocurrencies.

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