Hacking Group Medusa Attacks a Public University in Islamabad: Student and Staff’s Personal Data Up for Ransom

After attacking the Institute of Space Technology (IST), Hackers are now asking for a ransom of $500,000

Located in Islamabad, the Institute of Space Technology (IST) was reportedly attacked by a hacking group named Medusa. According to details of the incident, the hackers hit the Institute of Space Technology (IST), through ransomware and stole large amounts of personal data of both students and teachers.

The stolen personal data is currently in possession of the hackers who are demanding a $500,000 in ransom.

Soon after getting hold of the data, the Medusa hackers uploaded photo proofs of the stolen data. The pictures included sensitive documents such as passports, payslips, analysis details etc. Alongside the photo proofs, the hackers wrote a message saying that the university can buy a $500,000 encryption key to recover the data or else it would be released on the dark web.

The post also mentioned that if the university wants an additional day for paying up the ransom, they can also have that at the cost of $10,000.

While announcing the attack, Medusa gave the Institute of Space Technology 9 days time to bring up the ransom amount. Around 2 of those 7 days have now passed, but the university is yet to make a statement or decision on the matter.

This attack on a common public university indicates just how common ransomware attacks have become. Incidents like this should be a lesson for all institutes to take cybersecurity seriously and take up important measures.

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