Lucknow: A Lucknow-based advertising company became the target of a ransomware attack, disrupting its operations and compromising critical data. Cybercriminals allegedly infiltrated the company’s server and deployed a virus that encrypted all files and system data. They later demanded a ransom in exchange for decrypting the files.The company’s IT head, Vivek Jain, filed a complaint at the Cyber Crime Police Station, prompting an official investigation. Inspector Brajesh Kumar Yadav, in charge of the case, confirmed that the hackers used malicious software to lock the company out of its own computer systems. When employees attempted to access the data, they found all files corrupted and unreadable.The company immediately informed senior officials and brought in a third-party antivirus security team, but efforts to recover the data failed. With operations coming to a standstill, the internal IT team formatted the systems and moved backup data to a secure location. While data is now partially restored from the backup, the system formatting wiped out much of the digital trail, making it difficult to trace the attackers.Two cyber investigation teams are currently working to identify the source of the ransomware and determine how the breach occurred. Police suspect that the attackers may have used phishing or exploited network vulnerabilities.
