MANCHESTER UNITED CYBER ATTACK: HACKERS DEMAND PAYOFF IN RANSOMWARE
The situation on the Manchester United cyber attack (reported by Cyberkach here) has escalated as the hackers are demanding a ransom from the English Premier League Club.
Multiple UK news sources have reported that United are victims of a ransomware attack (a cyberattack in which hackers infect a system/network and demand ransoms from the victim so as not to delete or expose their data). According to these reports, the hackers are requesting "millions of pounds" to keep players' data (and other sensitive information) away from the public. This report even states that the club no longer have access to their email systems.
The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), UK's top cybersecurity regulator, is now assisting United manage the fallout of this attack. According to a statement attributed to an NCSC spokesperson, “The NCSC is aware of an incident affecting Manchester United Football Club and we are working with the organisation and partners to understand impact.”
Manchester United now face one of three prospects: regain access to their internal systems and avert any consequences, pay up the ransom to the hackers, or risk a huge fine to regulators. In the event that private information in their possession is disclosed, United could pay as much as £18m or two percent of their total turnover.
Recall that Manchester United previously claimed that "Although this is a sophisticated operation by organised cyber criminals, the club has extensive protocols and procedures in place for such an event and had rehearsed for this risk." Let's hope they rehearsed well enough. Fingers crossed!