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The Steamship Authority, the largest ferry service from Massachusetts, was recently hit by what seems to be a ransomware attack.
The Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority has been the target of a ransomware attack that is affecting operations as of Wednesday morning. As a result, customers traveling with us today may experience delays. 1/2
— Steamship Authority (@SteamshipMA) June 2, 2021
The Steamship Authority declared that it’s still working on restoring services, with trips already scheduled to operate without disruption. Unfortunately, the availability of credit card systems for processing vehicle and passenger tickets is limited, so paying in cash is preferred.
The Steamship Authority is continuing to work with our team internally, as well as with local, state, and federal officials externally, to address Wednesday’s incident.
The ticketing processes, including online and phone reservations, will continue to be affected today, Thursday, June 3, 3021.
At this point, customers remain unable to book or change reservations online or by phone, and the use of cash is recommended as there is limited access to credit card systems at some terminal and parking locations.
This is just one of several ransomware incidents to have impacted US targets in the last month.
It looks like all of the attacks were orchestrated by cyber criminals believed to be Russian-based.
A similar situation took place when an attack coordinated by the DarkSide ransomware gang forced Colonial Pipeline to shut down the largest US pipeline and pay a $5 million ransom.
Let’s not forget also about the world’s largest beef producer JBS, which was forced to shut down its production following a REvil (aka Sodinokibi) ransomware attack that hit its North American and Australian IT systems over the weekend.
The US is actively working on implementing better cybersecurity policies in order to create a safer landscape.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki declared that President Biden would be discussing the recent ransomware attacks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the June 16 Geneva summit.
As it relates to actions we’re taking in the federal government, the President has launched a rapid strategic review to address the increased threat of ransomware, to include four major lines of effort:
Disruption of ransomware infrastructure and actors. Working closely with the private sector — we will work in partnership with them. That is something that this administration has done a bit differently than in the past in working to find best practices, ensuring that private sector entities have a seat at the table, and we can work in close coordination.
Building an international coalition to hold countries who harbor ransom actors accountable. I mean, this attack is an example of how this is not just a problem in the United States. These are actors that are working to get into systems around the world. This was a company obviously based in Brazil, but Australia was a major — was impacted also by this.
Expanding cryptocurrency analysis — obviously, this has been an increasing question out there — to find and pursue criminal transactions.
And reviewing our own ransomware policies.
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Dora is a digital marketing specialist within Heimdal™ Security. She is a content creator at heart - always curious about technology and passionate about finding out everything there is to know about cybersecurity.
