NRA Computers Hacked

Here is a report that NRA headquarters got hacked. The report talks of ransomware, but ransomeware is malware that makes files inaccessible until the ransom has been paid. In this case, is sounds like the files were downloaded, and the threat is that they will be publicly released unless payoff is made.

UPDATE Word “from inside” is that the headquarters computer system has been shut down and is “off limits” for over a week, and that the building has been physically closed to employees for days. The phone system, base on VOIP, is also down. Sounds to us like the hackers not only looted the files, but also locked up the system.

Obviously the hack is real. Word is also that NRA is negotiating with the cybercriminals, negotiations made difficult by their being on the State Department sanctions list, so a corporation runs afoul of sanctions if it pay them.

Frank Tait, maverick board candidate, has some serious thoughts on this. A typical ransom is a quarter million, with a chance they’ll release the data anyway once they are paid (we may hope!)