Atlanta Ransomware Creators and Attackers Identified

Atlanta Ransomware Attack Criminals Identified

A federal grand jury warrant when unsealed today in Newark, New Jersey gave some insight into the most systematic ransomware takedown happened in the City of Atlanta in March 2018.

Cybersecurity investigators said that it was a part of a network of ransomware attacks across the United States that targeted hospitals, municipalities and several other public entities.

As a result of the in-depth investigation, two Iranian men Faramarz Shahi Savandi age 34 and Mohammad Shah Mansouri age 27 are charged in a 34-month extortion scheme since they deployed an illegal fake application without the permission from Internet society.

The Aftermath Of The Atlanta Attack

According to cybersecurity reports, the two men collected more than $6 million via ransom payments and cost around $30 million in losses.

The reports identified more than 200 victims from the City of Atlanta, Newark, San Diego, Canada and many health care centers.

Craig Carpenito Attorney for the District of New Jersey said, “It is the most dangerous escalation of the cybercrime with the aim to destroy infrastructure and gaining illegal profit. It all impacted our way of life where extorting money is profit and damage to society is a loss.”

The ransomware attack exposed Atlanta city computers and caused the encryption of personal and financial data. Click this Atlanta Ransomware attack to know the devastating impact of ransomware that took the life out of the city for many days

Keisha Lance Bottoms, Mayor said, “All businessmen were potentially at risk due to the attack as it shut down Atlanta's court systems, the Municipal Court's payment process. The security companies were also in danger at that time.”

However, Atlanta partnered with a cybersecurity company, Secure Works to free the city from the impacts of ransomware and it cost the city about $51,000. The mayor congratulated them and said that the investigation and security team did a good work by capturing two Iranian men.

She further added, “It was extremely unmanageable to the city. But daily we hear such ransomware attack news worldwide which is daily becoming difficult to combat.”

Justice To Cyber Criminals Is Still Pending

Cybercriminals spend days and nights to find ways to cause havoc but now as per court reports, Savandi and Mansouri extorted victims by demanding ransom payment in the Bitcoins for exchanging decryption keys of the encrypted data.

They got into the system backups and affected the maximum amount of computer data.

The men used Iran-based Bitcoin exchangers, utilized the computer networks, found the institutions and organizations and then executed the attacks. They perfected their criminal art and got better at it with each attack every day.

Also, Read: Malware Attack in Muskegon College Shuts Computer System

Victims discover the malicious attack usually through a ransom that executes whenever you try to open an encrypted file. Savandi and Mansouri used the dark web, conducted their activity and anonymously appeared online.

However, their attempts to cover their web tracks eventually got discovered. And cybersecurity team in addition to the team of investigators identified the men behind the online robbery.

In the court statement, we have not yet noted which victims paid and which ones didn’t. But, Atlanta was the only case where the whole system was compromised for several days.

The FBI discourage ransom payment but on the same side understand businesses since they have a lot at stake when data is compromised.

Both the men Savandi and Mansouri aren’t yet arrested. Anyone about the information on their whereabouts is asked to contact the local FBI office or the nearest embassy.

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