One Click Too Many
In October 2019 fake emails reached Maastricht University and an employee clicked a link with a virus. In November the hackers used servers with outdated software to gain full control of the network. On 23 December 2019 they locked 267 servers. The university paid 30 bitcoin, then almost 200,000 euros. The police later recovered part of that money. Because bitcoin had become more valuable in the meantime, the university got back more than 560,000 euros at the end of 2024, for a fund for students and researchers in need. The total damage was much higher. The characters in this puzzle are made up. The hack is real.
What can you learn?
A fake email can look perfectly normal. In doubt about a link or attachment? Do not click, but ask someone. And if you did click? Tell someone right away, because the damage can then still be limited.
This does not give away who the weak link in the puzzle is: the characters are made up.