‘Payment sent’ – travel giant CWT pays US$4.5mil ransom to cyber criminals

Part of the payment negotiations between ransom-seeking cybercriminals – marked 'Support' – and a representative of travel giant CWT – marked 'You' – is seen in this photo taken in Washington, D.C. — Reuters

LONDON: US travel management firm CWT paid US$4.5mil (RM19.08mil) last week to hackers who stole reams of sensitive corporate files and said they had knocked 30,000 computers offline, according to a record of the ransom negotiations seen by Reuters.

The attackers used a strain of ransomware called Ragnar Locker, which encrypts computer files and renders them unusable until the victim pays for access to be restored.