What did two business stories reveal on 27 May 2021?
A look back at an Ukrainian media acquisition and a US insurer's ransomware payment, both reported in the days before 27 May 2021.
What was the business news in the days leading up to 27 May 2021? Two items stand out, one in Ukraine and one in the United States, and they have little in common beyond the money involved.
On 26 May 2021, the investment company Dragon Capital bought the Ukrainian online outlet Ukrainska Pravda. The deal put a well-known news publication under the ownership of an investment firm.
Five days earlier, on 21 May 2021, CNA Financial, the seventh-largest commercial insurer in the United States, disclosed a ransomware attack from March 2021. The company said it had paid $40 million to a group called Phoenix two weeks after company data was stolen and its officials were locked out of the network.
The attackers used malware called Phoenix Locker, a variant of ransomware known as Hades. Cybersecurity experts said Hades was created by a Russian cybercrime syndicate known as Evil Corp. In December 2019, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on 17 individuals and six entities linked to Evil Corp. That designation made it illegal for a US company to knowingly pay a ransom to Evil Corp.
Together, the two stories show ownership consolidation in one market and the cost of cyberattacks in another.
