Rice University hit by global ransomware outbreak, Reuters says

HOUSTON - Several universities in the United States and Central Europe were victims of a global ransomware outbreak recently that scrambled servers.

According to Reuters several, U.S. universities and Central European universities including Florida's Supreme Court were among more than 3,800 victims of a digital extortion campaign that locked up thousands of Europe servers over the weekend. 

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Reuters said they could identify some of the victims of the ransomware by looking up internet protocol address data connected to the affected servers through widely used internet scanning tools. Among the victims, Reuters said they identified Rice University in Houston.

A hand on the keyboard is seen with binary code displayed on a laptop screen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on August 17, 2021. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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Rice said in a comment, "The Rice University network is secure. A nonessential system that was affected was promptly contained. Rice services experienced no impact from this event."

The cybercriminals behind the attack were said to have extorted only $88,000 which is lower than the standard multimillion-dollar ransoms by some hacking gangs, according to Reuters.