Queensland University of Technology printers to spit out ransomware notes in bulk.

Campus printers have been spit out in large quantities of ransomware notes as a result of a cyberattack at Queensland’s second-largest university.
As a precaution, several IT systems at the Queensland University of Technology have been shut down.

Professor Margaret Sheil, Vice-Chancellor of QUT, stated that her own printer was one of the affected individuals this morning.

She stated, “In my situation, it printed out until there was no more paper in my printer.”

The ransom note claims to be from “Royal ransomware,” a type of ransomware that, according to Professor Sheil, operated a “well-known” scheme.

After the first ransomware attacks were reported in the United States in September, the health department of the United States recently issued a warning to hospitals.

Two weeks ago, American authorities issued a warning to healthcare departments: “Royal is a newer ransomware, and less is known about the malware and operators than others.”
The printed ransomware note warns that unless a “modest royalty” is paid, “your critical data was not only encrypted but also copied.”

Teacher Sheil said different frameworks were compromised, however none of the “center” understudy, staff or monetary frameworks gave off an impression of being involved.

As part of a precaution, the university has shut down all of its IT systems while technical staff and outside experts investigate.

Professor Sheil stated, “We’ve shut down everything that’s sensitive in terms of holding data and things like that.”

“We’ve shut down or stopped access to most of the systems that aren’t working, like the system that manages all of the student enrollment data, the system that students use to get information about their classes, and staff systems.

“There are other systems that have been compromised; they may not have been shut down, but a file may have been locked by the attack,”

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The Queenslander sign on October 8, 2020, in the border town of Wallangarra, Queensland, between New South Wales and Queensland.
The incident has been brought to the attention of faculty and students.

Students who received an offer to study at the university this morning are also being contacted by QUT. At the university, students can accept an offer, but they won’t be able to finish their paperwork until the IT systems are back online.

Professor Sheil stated, “We want to reassure those hopefully very excited new students that this will not affect them.”

According to Professor Sheil, federal authorities had been informed of the university’s cyber breach response strategy.

The fact that the federal Department of Education is aware of the incident has been confirmed.