A hacker attacked a contracting firm’s system based in Dubai by Dharma ransomware. The hacker demanded a ransom of $300 in bitcoins. Mohammad Ibraheem, who works at Dubai Silicon Oasis, said that their systems got attacked by the Dharma ransomware four days ago and left all the files encrypted.
Ibraheem said that they have tried to everything to decrypt the files, but nothing worked and they have contacted IT experts from India and Dubai, but nobody was able to help. He added that if the files are damaged permanently, it would be a huge loss for the firm.
After trying everything, Ibraheem contacted the hacker through the mail. The hacker responded immediately saying he would decrypt all the files once he receives $300 in bitcoins. Ibraheem has refused to pay the ransom as he is not sure if the hacker would actually keep his words or not. The hacker also sent a link directing to a payment gateway for ransom.
As of now, there is no known way to decrypt files attacked by Dharma ransomware. No anti-virus company has released Dharma decryptor so far. Ransomware attacks are on the rise, and vulnerable systems are targeted more often by hackers. Recently two schools on New York were attacked by Ryuk ransomware, and one of the school had to pay $88,000 worth BTC to the hacker.
