{"id":132,"date":"2026-03-06T19:35:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=132"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:35:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:35:46","slug":"fraudulent-chat-portals-a-vector-for-ransomware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/fraudulent-chat-portals-a-vector-for-ransomware\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraudulent chat portals vector for ransomware"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In February 2026, an unknown threat actor attempted to execute a ransomware attack against a different institution of higher education, located in the United States. The ransomware was delivered through a fraudulent web chat portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a ransomware attack, a piece of malware that encrypts files is used to infect a computer. Once a file is encrypted, it cannot be read from or written to until the encryption is undone. The encryption can only be undone using a key that the threat actor provides, and the threat actor usually tries to extort a ransom in exchange for the decryption key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spotting and protecting yourself from ransomware can seem difficult, but there are some basic steps you can take to protect yourself and your data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Always back up your data. We recommend the 3-2-1 backup method:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>At least three (3) copies of any important data<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Across at least two (2) storage mediums<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>With at least one (1) copy of the data stored off-site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don&#8217;t click on suspicious links<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Verify web addresses to make sure they&#8217;re what you expect before providing information or downloading software.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don&#8217;t execute programs or macros that you don&#8217;t trust.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For any questions or if you think you may have been affected by ransomware, please reach out to the Service Desk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In February 2026, an unknown threat actor attempted to execute a ransomware attack against a different institution of higher education, located in the United States. The ransomware was delivered through a fraudulent web chat portal. In a ransomware attack, a piece of malware that encrypts files is used to infect a computer. Once a file is encrypted, it cannot be read from or written to until the encryption is undone&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/securityblog.denison.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}