300 WordPress Sites Hacked In Ransomware Attacks

Share post:

Cybersecurity firm Sucuri revealed that nearly 300 WordPress sites were hacked last week with a fake encryption message to entice site owners to pay a fee of 0.1 Bitcoin (~$6,069.23) for restoring their website.

In explaining what happened, the researchers found that the websites were not encrypted instead, threat actors modified an installed WordPress plugin to display a ransom note and a countdown.

The plugin used by the attackers also modified all WordPress blog entries and set their ‘post_status’ to ‘null’ thereby ensuring that they go into an unpublished state.

To return the page to its normal state, the plugin must be removed while executing a command to republish the posts and pages.

Giving further details, Sucuri said the attack was not an isolated attack but a detailed plan as part of a wider campaign.

The security firm explained that the first point where the actor’s IP address appeared was the wp-admin panel, showing that they had either logged in as admins through brute force or stolen credentials from the dark web.

For more information, read the original story in BleepingComputer.

Featured Tech Jobs

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Related articles

Liberals to add ‘fundamental right to privacy’ to proposed law, but no details yet

As committee hearing start the Innovation minister promises changes to privacy law to meet complaints. Details to fo

Cyber Security Today, Sept. 27 2023 – Hackers are targeting luxury hotels, a Red Cross scam and more

This episode reports on phishing campaigns against the hospitality sector, a new ransomware operato

Ransomware attacks on U.S. public sector at record high

Ransomware attacks on the U.S. public sector are on track to reach record levels in 2023, with both...

APT hacking group AtlasCross targets organizations

A new advanced persistent threat (APT) hacking group named AtlasCross has been discovered targeting organizations with phishing lures...

Become a member

New, Relevant Tech Stories. Our article selection is done by industry professionals. Our writers summarize them to give you the key takeaways