Widespread VMware ESXi ransomware attack impacts over 3,800 organizations

More than 3,800 organizations around the world have been impacted by ransomware attacks targeted at VMware ESXi servers, including those belonging to several U.S. and Central European universities, as well as the Florida Supreme Court, reports Reuters. Infrastructure leveraged by the Florida Supreme Court for managing other elements of the state court system has been compromised by the ransomware attack but not the state Supreme Court's main network, according to Florida Supreme Court spokesperson Paul Flemming. Only $88,000 has been extorted by attackers behind the global ransomware operation, which are believed by Italy's digital safety officials to not be linked to any nation-state actors. Such modest proceeds have also prompted Finnish National Cyber Security Centre Information Security Specialist Samuli Kononen to conclude that less sophisticated actors were behind the scheme, which has allowed various victims to recover data even without a ransom payment. "More experienced ransomware groups usually don't make that kind of mistake," Kononen added.