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A Hacker Wants $5M in Ransom From Pemex By End of November

54 points by el_nahual 7y ago

mogadsheu 7y ago
I think Saudi Aramco was hacked a few years back too. Having worked at a major oil company, it doesn’t surprise me that these things happen. It’s not that anybody is particularly unintelligent, moreso that large sometimes sleepy companies have lots of vulnerable points in IT. I’m sure the same could be said for a host of other corporations, tech, finance, and defense aside.
- MrMorden 7y ago
  The Aramco hack is discussed in Paul's Security Weekly episode 498: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/Episode498 https://wiki.securityweekly.com/Episode498
  - PostOnce 7y ago
    Man that is an amazing website / series of podcasts (not just the Security Weekly one, but their others also). I'm submitting https://wiki.securityweekly.com/Security_Weekly https://wiki.securityweekly.com/Security_Weekly as it's own post on HN because this is news to me. It's so broad and deep! Just when I was out of podcasts.
    - viraptor 7y ago
      If you enjoyed that one, check out Risky Business as well https://risky.biz/ https://risky.biz/
- brobinson 7y ago
  Why do these companies not have dedicated red teams?
  - ta999999171 7y ago
    Because if you don't know tech, you can't hire for tech. Or won't, because "it's just a cost" (see: Sony). And if the person you've hired to manage the tech doesn't really know tech...you get this.
  - mogadsheu 7y ago
    They probably do, still vulnerable
Sendotsh 7y ago
When life imitates art. Wasn't this literally the plot to the Hackers movie? Complete with the 5 million dollar ransom to an oil company...
- jldugger 7y ago
  > Wasn't this literally the plot to the Hackers movie? Except it was an inside job.
  - Sendotsh 7y ago
    Who says this isn’t? Maybe someone should hack the Gibson and find out?
- edoceo 7y ago
  In that movie the villain was also the tech-guru for the security company selling to the energy company. Only Zero Cool can save us from The Plague! Hack the planet!!!
  - james_s_tayler 7y ago
    Hack The Planet!!!
  - skunkpocalypse 7y ago
    Mister The Plague.
pearjuice 7y ago
Daily reminder you need isolated, tested back-ups! Sure, you might not be able to recover all data but having no back-ups versus losing data in an x timeframe makes a big difference.
dmckeon 7y ago
Sounds like a job for Normal man: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-ransomware-superhero-of-normal-illinois https://www.propublica.org/article/the-ransomware-superhero-...
tibbydudeza 7y ago
Potential new revenue source for the cartels.
- erikpukinskis 7y ago
  Hacking or running an oil company? (both are basically black hat enterprises these days)
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

54 points by el_nahual 7y ago

I think Saudi Aramco was hacked a few years back too. Having worked at a major oil company, it doesn’t surprise me that these things happen. It’s not that anybody is particularly unintelligent, moreso that large sometimes sleepy companies have lots of vulnerable points in IT. I’m sure the same could be said for a host of other corporations, tech, finance, and defense aside.

MrMorden 7y ago
The Aramco hack is discussed in Paul's Security Weekly episode 498: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/Episode498 https://wiki.securityweekly.com/Episode498
- PostOnce 7y ago
  Man that is an amazing website / series of podcasts (not just the Security Weekly one, but their others also). I'm submitting https://wiki.securityweekly.com/Security_Weekly https://wiki.securityweekly.com/Security_Weekly as it's own post on HN because this is news to me. It's so broad and deep! Just when I was out of podcasts.
  - viraptor 7y ago
    If you enjoyed that one, check out Risky Business as well https://risky.biz/ https://risky.biz/
brobinson 7y ago
Why do these companies not have dedicated red teams?
- ta999999171 7y ago
  Because if you don't know tech, you can't hire for tech. Or won't, because "it's just a cost" (see: Sony). And if the person you've hired to manage the tech doesn't really know tech...you get this.
- mogadsheu 7y ago
  They probably do, still vulnerable

Sendotsh 7y ago

When life imitates art. Wasn't this literally the plot to the Hackers movie? Complete with the 5 million dollar ransom to an oil company...

jldugger 7y ago
> Wasn't this literally the plot to the Hackers movie? Except it was an inside job.
- Sendotsh 7y ago
  Who says this isn’t? Maybe someone should hack the Gibson and find out?
edoceo 7y ago
In that movie the villain was also the tech-guru for the security company selling to the energy company. Only Zero Cool can save us from The Plague! Hack the planet!!!
- james_s_tayler 7y ago
  Hack The Planet!!!
- skunkpocalypse 7y ago
  Mister The Plague.

pearjuice 7y ago

Daily reminder you need isolated, tested back-ups! Sure, you might not be able to recover all data but having no back-ups versus losing data in an x timeframe makes a big difference.

dmckeon 7y ago

Sounds like a job for Normal man: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-ransomware-superhero-of-normal-illinois https://www.propublica.org/article/the-ransomware-superhero-...

tibbydudeza 7y ago

Potential new revenue source for the cartels.

erikpukinskis 7y ago
Hacking or running an oil company? (both are basically black hat enterprises these days)

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]