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Software company's unveiling of decryption key comes too late for many victims of devastating ransomware attack
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/23/tech/kaseya-encryptor-ransomware-vi
ctims/index.html

On Thursday, the software company Kaseya announced that it could help unlock any of its customers' systems that were still inaccessible following a devastating ransomware attack early this month that took down as many as 1,500 businesses worldwide. Kaseya had obtained a decryption key, the company said, that could release any file still locked down by malicious software produced by the criminal gang REvil, which is believed to operate from Eastern Europe or Russia.

(T)he announcement ... opens a new chapter of scrutiny for Kaseya as it declines to answer questions about how it obtained the key and whether it paid the $70 million ransom demand or another amount.

(And i)n order to access the tool, Kaseya is requiring that businesses sign a non-disclosure agreement, according to several cybersecurity experts working with affected companies.

... (S)ome companies successfully recovered from the attack on their own.

But for many victims (the announcement) was too little, too late. (They) struggled for weeks to no avail. The problem was compounded when REvil's websites vanished, making it impossible to contact the group to make ransom payments or seek technical assistance. (And though the) announcement this week will likely mean the eventual restoration of these victims' data ... that doesn't change the resources they had to spend ... during the long stretch of time between when the attack occurred and when Kaseya announced a decryptor that the victims did not know was a possibility.

Most firms in (that) position have chosen to eat the costs of recovery rather than pass them along to customers ...

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