UK's biggest private forensic company, Eurofins Forensic Services, which was attacked by anonymous cybercriminals has paid a ransom to hackers, revealed reports.
Eurofins, which conducts DNA analysis, toxicology, ballistics and computer forensic work across UK, detected the attack between June 1 and 2. The private forensic analysis company described the attack as highly sophisticated.
Since the attack, police halted all the work with the company, which normally processes more than 70,000 criminal cases each year in the UK. Three weeks later Eurofins said its operations were "returning to normal," but they did not reveal whether the ransom was paid or not.
But a BBC report reveals that the Eurofins has paid the ransom to the hacker to regain control over their IT systems. However, the report did not disclose any details about the payment the company made, as the company refused to reveal further details.
In addition, the National Crime Agency (NCA) stated that it was just a "matter for the victim" as to whether a ransom had been paid or not.
The National Police Chiefs' Council launched an emergency response to the cyber-attack by maintaining the flow of forensic submissions to avoid delays in forensic testing, which could impact on court cases.
This incident is another example of how hackers are gaining control over the government and private organizations. Recently Harrison County Courthouse and Florida city council, who were hit by ransomware attack, have agreed to pay the ransom amount demanded by the cybercriminals.
The Harrison County Courthouse paid $1,500 ransom as demanded, but the blackmail saga did not end after making the payment.
In terms of the cyber-attack in Florida, the city council of Riviera Beach agreed to pay a ransom of $600,000 in Bitcoin to the cybercriminals who targeted its computer systems.
