Maastricht University

Maastricht University had its system infected with malware after an employee fell for a phishing attack.

The hackers, later identified as TA505, a Russian criminal gang, demanded a ransom of 30 bitcoins, which was worth $220,000 at the time.

The university decided to pay the Bitcoin ransom as the alternative was to rebuild the school’s entire IT network from the ground up.

Source: https://www.databreaches.net/bitcoin-ransom-of-220k-paid-by-maastricht-university/

TPRM report: https://scoringcyber.rankiteo.com/company/maastricht-university

"id": "maa21375123",
"linkid": "maastricht-university",
"type": "Ransomware",
"date": "02/2020",
"severity": "85",
"impact": "3",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with internal employee data leaks"

{'affected_entities': [{'industry': 'Education',
                        'location': 'Maastricht, Netherlands',
                        'name': 'Maastricht University',
                        'type': 'Educational Institution'}],
 'attack_vector': 'Phishing',
 'description': 'Maastricht University had its system infected with malware '
                'after an employee fell for a phishing attack. The hackers, '
                'later identified as TA505, a Russian criminal gang, demanded '
                'a ransom of 30 bitcoins, which was worth $220,000 at the '
                'time. The university decided to pay the Bitcoin ransom as the '
                'alternative was to rebuild the school’s entire IT network '
                'from the ground up.',
 'impact': {'financial_loss': '$220,000'},
 'initial_access_broker': {'entry_point': 'Phishing'},
 'motivation': 'Financial Gain',
 'ransomware': {'ransom_demanded': '30 bitcoins ($220,000)',
                'ransom_paid': 'Yes'},
 'threat_actor': 'TA505',
 'title': 'Maastricht University Ransomware Attack',
 'type': 'Ransomware'}