World

A Food Bank In Washington Fell Victim of a Ransomware Attack

Published

6 days ago

June 12, 2019

Ransomware attacks have been mostly seen on profit-making organizations, but this time a non-profit making food bank fell a victim of a ransomware attack. Washington located Auburn Food Bank fell victim of a ransomware attack known as GlobeImposter 2.0. It has encrypted all the computers run on the Food Bank’s network. There is no clue about how the attackers have put ransomware into the network. Only one system is left without encryption which will be used for charity purpose.

Auburn Food Bank is a human empowering nonprofit making organization which offers free food on public places and runs entirely on charity. The Food Bank has denied paying the ransom demand to the attackers because the demands are very high and there is no guarantee that the crooks will decrypt all the files after getting the ransom. They asked to pay 1.2 bitcoins which is almost equal to $9,500.

To show their strength, the crooks decrypted a file, and later asked the ransom amount three times more. The food bank has chosen to change its network and systems instead of paying the unacceptable ransom. Many tools like ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware have today emerged as some of the best tools to deal with such crooks. And the organization is planning on implementing such anti ransomware tools in their new network and systems.

Auburn Food Bank Director, Debbie Christian, said that they are not going to pay the ransom amount and have preferred to vanish all the systems. Even the network server and mail server will also be replaced with new ones. And the plan is to build a new network and new files.

World

Ethiopia’s App Based Taxi Service ZayRide Expands into West Africa

Published

6 hours ago

June 18, 2019

Jenny Jackson

Ethiopia’s first app-based Taxi Service, ZayRide is increasing its reach beyond Addis Abada. The company has decided to expand into West Africa with the help of Liberian web solutions firm Hak Technologies. This is a major step by the taxi service unit to offer smart transportation option to people with the replacement of old cabs from the region.

Over the last few years, three taxi services namely RIDE, ZayRide and ETTA have come into existence in the African nation. These three transportation entities have played a crucial role in easing the life of native people by providing them with excellent transportation services. Launched in 2016, ZayRide will see a big move in the near future as its founder, Habtamy Tadesse has announced that around 200 cars will be introduced in this Ethiopian on-demand taxi service.

Ethiopia which enjoys over 100-million people has remained out of reach of the private sector operations because the government had instituted a centralized economic model in this region. Because of the restrictions on private sector entities, the landlocked region has failed to grow well. Habtamu launched the taxi service, ZayRide after he failed to hail a taxi on demand but he faced a lot of opposition from regulators as they were confused between registering it as a transport company or software company.

All over the globe, the taxi industry is evolving at a massive rate as people don’t want to ride in their own vehicle due to increasing congestion on the roads. Even for a long ride, people consult taxi services as they want to have a comfortable journey. People usually hail a taxi from the airport to travel for a long distance. This has contributed to the growth of the taxi industry on a large scale. Long Distance Taxi JFK Airport is one such service which has got benefitted due to the increasing demand for a taxi for long distance from airports.