The White House said on Sunday it was offering help to victims of a widespread ransomware epidemic that has affected hundreds of businesses around the world, including Kaseya, a Miami-based IT company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kaseya said nearly 60 customers were directly affected by the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The full impact of the intrusion has yet to be determined, in part because Kaseya’s software tool, which was breached by the cybercriminals, is used by so-called managed service providers, outsourcing shops that other companies use to carry out their back-office IT work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kaseya said on Sunday that it had hired cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc to help deal with the aftermath of the breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Joe Biden has directed U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate who is behind the ransomware attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Security firm Huntress Labs said on Friday it firmly believed the Russia-linked REvil ransomware gang was responsible for the latest attack, and last month the FBI blamed the same group for the attack on meatpacker JBS SA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two largest nations affected by the ransomware attack are the United States and Germany, said Ross McKerchar, chief information security officer at Sophos Group Plc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The frequency of German victims could be attributed to the breach of a major provider there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany’s cybersecurity watchdog said that an unidentified IT service provider serving several thousand customers had been attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schools, small public institutions, travel and leisure organizations, credit unions and accountants were affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McKerchar said the wave of disruption was another example of how difficult it is for medium-sized businesses to crack down on increasingly well-financed cybercrime gangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In some cases, chain reactions led to further disturbances.<\/p>\n\n\n