Indian publisher hit by ransomware attack, hackers demand bitcoin payment

Police said they have the details of IP addresses used for hacking into the company's software

The general manager of a publication house has filed a police complaint alleging that their official systems have been hacked and the perpetrators are demanding bitcoins for restoring their systems, the police said on Thursday.

Sanjay Garg, the general manager with Rachna Sagar publishers, filed a police complaint with the Crime Branch yesterday about the ransomware attack.

When the staffers of the publication house reached their workplace on August 9 and tried to access the official business files, they were unable to do so, he said.

"We tried several times but all our attempts failed. We found that there is a message from an unknown source which read that all your files have been encrypted," Garg said in his complaint.

He claimed that the hackers demanded payment in bitcoins.

"... And if we want to decrypt them, we should contact them and pay them in bitcoins after which they will decrypt out files.

"After reading this message, it was quite clear that our computer system was hacked and our business accounting software and email were compromised and that the data has been stolen/locked," Garg said in his complaint.

He approached the police with a complaint, following which a case was registered.

Police said that they have got details of the IP addresses used for hacking into the company's software and are probing their locations.