Florida International University attacked by BlackCat ransomware

Florida International University has been impacted by the BlackCat ransomware gang, also known as ALPHV, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. While BlackCat has claimed to have stolen 1.2TB of data from FIU, including accounting documents, contracts, email databases, and Social Security numbers, the university said that it has not yet found any indication that the attack has compromised any sensitive data. Sensitive student and staff information has been confirmed by some cybersecurity experts to have been included in the allegedly stolen data. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. In previous incidents, multiple organizations which initially stated they had no evidence of data being compromised later discovered that it had been — usually, when the attackers released it online," said Emsisoft Threat Analyst Brett Callow. Publicly reported ransomware attacks targeted at schools have reached 37 as of March, with the attacks during the first three months of 2022 higher than in any previous year, according to Recorded Future ransomware expert Allan Liska.