Hackers lost their grip - their victim was smarter.
The LockBit ransomware group has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on the KVIE TV channel in Sacramento, California. The group reported this on its website leaks.
PBS television station KVIE announced the attacks on November 23, noting that some of its internal systems were affected on October 31. She immediately shut down the system, notified law enforcement and hired experts to investigate the incident.
Critical channel systems are separated from the business network, so the site and broadcast are not affected, and hackers do not gain access to payroll and accounting systems.
KVIE President and General Manager David Low confirmed that the LockBit group demanded a ransom, but KVIE decided not to pay it, and instead restore all files from backups. The only problem that arose after the cyberattack was the short time interval between restorable backups, during which no new files were saved. In addition, some local production files were affected.
KVIE is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television station licensed to Sacramento, California, USA. The channel is owned by KVIE, Inc., a public non-profit organization that is governed by a voluntary board of directors.
LockBit, which is one of the most dangerous groups, has existed since 2019 and operates on a RaaS model. The group has received particular attention in recent weeks for its attacks on the Canadian Children's Hospital, one of Europe's largest ports, and the British postal and courier company Royal Mall.