Individuals and corporate houses need to be cautious about cyber attacks as they increasingly turn to digital modes for work and other transactions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Global IT services provider Cognizant Technology Solutions, in a stock exchange filing on Saturday, disclosed that it was hit by a “Maze” ransomware cyber attack.
The company confirmed that the attack disrupted the services of some of its clients.
Without elaborating on the details, Cognizant said that it was taking steps to contain the incident with the help of cyber defence companies and was also engaged with law enforcement authorities.
“We are communicating with our clients and have provided them with indicators of compromise and other technical information of a defensive nature,” Cognizant added.
Ransomware is a type of malicious program used by hackers to take control of files in an infected system and then demand hefty payments to recover them.
According to cybersecurity firm McAfee, hackers who deploy Maze threaten to release information on the internet if the targeted companies fail to pay. The Maze operators denied responsibility for the cyber attack, according to security website BleepingComputer. However, the report added that Maze is likely to not discuss it to avoid complications at this early stage.
US Insurance company Chubb in March was hit by a computer security incident that may have involved unauthorised access to data held by an outside service provider.
A group that deploys the Maze ransomware claimed to have locked up devices on Chubb’s network during March, according to BleepingComputer.
Interpol has also warned health organisations across the world to brace themselves for a possible attack involving ransomware.
While reports of this ransomware attack are primarily limited to the US, Canada, parts of South America and Europe, cybersecurity analysts have urged individuals and corporate houses to keep multiple back-up of their sensitive data so as to make a quick recovery without paying ransom as well as upgrade their protection.
