Media Prima victim of ransomware attack. Email system held hostage for 1,000 bitcoin ransom

A ransomware attack has caused major disruptions to the in-house email systems at Media Prima Bhd since last Thursday according to sources, The Edge Financial Daily reports.

It is learnt that the ransomware attackers demanded Media Prima to pay 1,000 bitcoins to regain access to its email system, the daily added.

The going rate for one bitcoin according to Google at the moment is roughly around RM26,320. A ransom of one thousand bitcoins means Media Prima may have to fork out over RM26 million. This is assuming that the source is right and Media Prima is able to find someone that’s willing to part with 1000 bitcoins.

The Edge Financial Daily reached out to Media Prima — via email — but mentioned that the media group did not confirm or deny whether there was a ransomware attack. It is also understood that Media Prima does not intend to pay the ransom and have moved their email communications to Google, according to another source that spoke to The Edge Financial.

It is not immediately known whether Media Prima’s data has been breached, and whether the media group would be suffering financial losses due to the ransomware attack.

And it is not known what further action does Media Prima intend to take to recover its email systems and to prevent the company from being vulnerable to such attacks again.

[source]