Midwest's Largest Gym Hit by Play Ransomware Attack
Incident Date:
July 4, 2024
Overview
Title
Midwest's Largest Gym Hit by Play Ransomware Attack
Victim
Prairie Athletic Club
Attacker
Play
Location
First Reported
July 4, 2024
Ransomware Attack on Prairie Athletic Club by Play Group
Victim Profile: Prairie Athletic Club
Prairie Athletic Club, located in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, stands as the largest health club in the Midwest. This facility is not just a gym but a comprehensive community hub for fitness and recreation, featuring a vast array of services including personal training, a variety of fitness classes, and extensive aquatic facilities. The club is particularly noted for its Dolphin’s Cove outdoor waterpark, which adds a unique family-friendly dimension to its offerings. With a staff of 103 and a management team led by Kayla Thompson and Pete Simon, the club plays a significant role in the local community by promoting health and wellness across all age groups.
Attack Overview
The Play ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack on Prairie Athletic Club, which was first detected on July 5, 2024. Details regarding the extent of the data breach remain unclear, but the incident was significant enough to warrant an announcement on the group's dark web leak site. This attack underscores the vulnerability of even local, community-focused businesses to sophisticated cyber threats.
Ransomware Group: Play
The Play ransomware group, active since mid-2022, has quickly gained notoriety for its targeted attacks across various sectors worldwide. This group is known for its methodical approach to bypassing security measures and its strategic use of tools like Mimikatz for privilege escalation and custom tools for network scanning. Play's distinctive lack of initial ransom demands in their ransom notes, directing victims to contact them via email, sets them apart from other ransomware operators.
Possible Entry Points and Security Implications
While specific details of the breach method in this incident are not disclosed, Play's known tactics suggest possible exploitation of vulnerabilities in network infrastructure such as RDP servers or outdated VPN accounts. The group's preference for targeting entities with potentially lower cyber defense capabilities, such as local businesses or those in the consumer services sector, might have played a role in the selection of Prairie Athletic Club as a target. This incident highlights the critical need for such institutions to enhance their cybersecurity measures, considering their role in the community and the sensitivity of the data they handle.
Sources
Recent Ransomware Attacks
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