A massive ransomware attack that affected thousands of victims continued to cause chaos on Sunday as the White House pledged “full resources” to probe the breach.
Companies across the globe appear to have been affected through compromised software, asked to pay ransoms reported from $45,000 up to $5 million as the full breadth of Friday’s attack came into focus.
The ransomware hit Florida-based Kaseya and spread through a slew of companies, many which use its software to serve multiple customers.
“The level of sophistication here was extraordinary,” Fred Voccola, CEO of Kaseya, told The Associated Press.
About half the company’s 37,000 customers were victimized – but 70 percent of those were “managed service providers” who use Kaseya’s software to many others. In total, he estimated that thousands were affected, the AP said.
Although experts believe the attack originated from a group with ties to Russia, President Biden said Saturday it wasn’t yet clear if that was the case. He told reporters he’d ordered a “deep dive” by intelligence into the breach.
“And if it is, either with the knowledge of and/or a consequence of Russia, then I told Putin we will respond,” Biden said, according to a transcript of his comments.
