Ransomware attack knocks SmarterASP.net customers knocked offline

SmartASP.net reported it was hit with a ransomware attack over the weekend that encrypted and knocked offline many of the hosting services customer accounts.

For many SmarterASP.net’s customers their first indication something was wrong was when they were presented with a note from the company stating an attack was taking place and efforts were being made to rectify the situation. The company says it 440,516 customers but it did not indicate how many were affected nor did it give out any details on the attack itself.

“Your hosting account was under attack and hackers have encrypted all your data.  We are now working with security experts to try to decrypt your data and also to make sure this would never happen again.  Please stay tune for more info.  Please know that we are getting thousands of messages in our email and we don't have enough staffs to reply them all.  So please don’t email us. We will continue to put out notices on our Facebook page. Please check back soon,” was posted by the company.

Customers began taking to Twitter to voice their concern on November 9, with the company attempting to keep everyone calm with appeals to “relax” and “have patience.”

The company also used its Facebook account to keep its customers up to date with the first statements that were posted late on November 10 indicating service would be up within 12 to 24 hours. As of 2 p.m. SmarterASP reported that 98 percent of the accounts have been fixed with 80 percent of email service restored.