Pharma Giant Hit By Ransomware

"Merck, a U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant, was among dozens of businesses affected by a sprawling cyberattack Tuesday, with victims across the globe facing demands to hand over a ransom or have their computer networks remain locked and inaccessible."

New FBI Recommendations on Ransomware Response, Ransomware Removal and Ransomware Prevention

Don't pay a ransom, urges the FBI.  “Paying a ransom doesn’t guarantee an organization that it will get its data back—we’ve seen cases where organizations never got a decryption key after having paid the ransom. Paying a ransom not only emboldens current cyber criminals to target more organizations, it also offers an incentive for other criminals to get involved in this type of illegal activity. And finally, by paying a ransom, an organization might inadvertently be funding other illicit activity associated with criminals," says an FBI official

Instead the FBI recommends better ransomware prevention, such as employee training (pay special attention to spear phishing) and technical prevention tools, along with a good business continuity plan.
See the April 2016 update here

Ransomware Hits Michigan Utility

"Recently, the American public utility Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL) has announced that the company has become a victim of Ransomware attack that knocked the utility's internal computer systems offline:" reports Hacker News here

The FBI is assisting the utility, which says none of its 96,000 customers has lost personal information in the attack. The specific type of ransomware and ransomware removal tool, if any, involved in the response has not been revealed by authorities.