CNA Financial Paid $40 Million in Ransom to Group It Calls Phoenix
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According to people with knowledge of the transaction, one of the nation’s leading insurance companies, CNA Financial Corp., paid $40 million in late March, two weeks after ransomware actors stole a trove of company data.
The company said it would not comment on the ransom payment but did say it followed all laws in making the payment. CNA hackers used malware called Phoenix Locker, a variant of ransomware dubbed ‘Hades.’ Hades was created by a Russian cybercrime syndicate known as Evil Corp., sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019. CNA said the hackers were a group called Phoenix, which is not subject to U.S. sanctions. (Kartikay Mehrotra and William Turton / Bloomberg)
Related: The Verge, Graham Cluley, Engadget, Slashdot, Daily Mail, The Hill: Cybersecurity
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