Criminals Increasingly Hold Internet-Facing Databases Hostage

Security researchers report a massive surge in hackers seizing the data in internet-facing MongoDB databases and holding data for ransom.

Researchers Victor Gerves and Niall Merrigan noticed these ransomware attacks have increased from 200 or so two weeks ago to 28,000 Monday—and dozens of hackers are fighting among themselves to steal databases, Threatpost reported. Some of the paying victims haven’t gotten back their data, either.

These attacks don’t require malware, just poorly configured systems such as those that kept default settings. Hackers identify potential targets using Shodan, a search engine that identifies internet-connected devices.

"Cybercriminals are entrepreneurs at heart. There are tons of open unauthenticated data stores on the internet and where there is a will there is a way. Where there is money to be made cybercriminals will find a way to make it," Bugcrowd CEO Casey Ellis told Dark Reading.