HACK U

Hackers Blackmail a Virginia University Over Its Emergency Alert System

“If we don’t receive payment, full data leak will be published!!!!!!!!” one message from the hijacked system warned the school community.

A cybersecurity breach at a small Christian university in Virginia allowed hackers to seize control of its emergency alert system, pushing out extortive messages to the school community, according to NBC News. The messages, issued over Bluefield University’s RamAlert, warned faculty and students that their personal data would be “leaked in the darkweb” if the school’s president didn’t pay the ransomware gang. “If we don’t receive payment, full data leak will be published!!!!!!!!” one message read. Another added, “We’re deep in the network. This will not go away.” The school first became aware of the cyberattack on Sunday, a university spokesperson told NBC News. They declined to comment on whether Bluefield would consider paying the hackers. “We are all pretty stressed and worried about the situation due to we don’t know exactly all the details and what’s really going on,” one student told NBC over Facebook Messenger.