University College London (UCL) has fallen victim to a major ransomware attack after a phishing email activated malware which encrypted files on local drives and network shared drives. The university said it was working with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the UK government to investigate what happened. In response to the attack, the ISD stopped access to N: and S: drives. However, back-up measures should protect most data, including data encrypted by the malware, according to the ISD.
University College London (UCL) has fallen victim to a major ransomware attack after a phishing email activated malware which encrypted files on local drives and network shared drives. The attack may have involved a zero-day vulnerability because the malware bypassed existing security controls, the university's information services division (ISD) said. In response to the attack, the ISD stopped access to N: and S: drives. However, back-up measures should protect most data, including data encrypted by the malware, according to the ISD.