Telecom Argentina has to pay up $7.5 million by [23:48] on July 21.

Hackers are becoming more aggressive and demanding larger ransoms for freeing up hijacked computer resources. The latest entity to fall prey to these machinations is Telecom S.A., Argentina’s largest telecommunications company. (Crypto News)

Ransom to be paid in Monero

The hackers have taken over control of Telecom Argentina’s Office365 and OneDrive files. Other areas hacked include the corporate VPN, Citrix, Siebel, Genesys, the Customer and Field Service virtual machines, and internal users’ PCs.

The attack commenced last Wednesday, around the time employees started getting locked out of the VPN and various corporate databases.

The hackers, a group known as Gold Southfield, used the infamous software known as REvil Ransomware to attack Telecom Argentina. It probably infiltrated the company’s systems via an email attachment.

If Telecom Argentina does not pay up the $7.5 million ransom by July 21, the amount will double.

Other recent ransomware attacks

DailyAlts wrote last month about REvil Ransomware and its use in the hack attack on Australian brewery Lion. The criminals demanded a ransom of $800,000 from the company.

Last month, the University of California San Francisco paid $1.14 million to hackers who installed ransomware and encrypted its servers. The hacker attack, which the University described as a “security incident,” took place in the UCSF School of Medicine’s IT environment on June 1.

However, the most high-profile hacking incident took place last week when criminals hijacked the accounts of prominent Twitter personalities and sent out tweets in their name. They promised to pay back 2X the amount of bitcoin deposited to a certain wallet.

The bad actors made off with an estimated $1,20,000 before Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) wrested back control.

Related Story:    Aussie Beer Manufacturer Lion on the Hook for $800K in Ransomware Demand