Danish news agency Ritzau hit by ransomware, but did not pay the ransom

Ritzau, the biggest Danish news agency, was hit by a ransomware attack that brought it offline but refused to pay the ransom.

Ritzau, the biggest Danish news agency, was hit by a ransomware attack that brought it offline. The cyber attack hit a quarter of Ritzau ’s 100 servers that have been damaged. The agency confirmed that it has rejected the ransom demand but did not reveal its amount.

Ritzaus Bureau A/S, or Ritzau for short, is a Danish news agency founded by Erik Ritzau in 1866. It collaborates with three other Scandinavian news agencies to provide Nordic News, an English-language Scandinavian news service.

“Ritzau CEO Lars Vesterloekke couldn’t say how big the ransom demand was because those behind the “professional attack” had left “a file with a message” that the agency didn’t open following instructions from its advisers.” reported the Associated Press.

The news agency has transferred its emergency distribution to clients to six live blogs that provide a better overview.

“If it goes as expected, then we can gradually be back to normal on Thursday,” said Ritzau CEO Lars Vesterloekke Vesterloekke.

The agency launched an investigation into the incident with the help of an external security firm and its insurance company.

At the time of writing the family of ransomware that hit the agency has yet to be revealed, it is also not clear if the threat actors have stolen some data before encrypting the servers.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, malware)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.