A student’s attempt to pirate an expensive data visualization software led to a full-blown Ryuk ransomware attack at a European biomolecular research institute. The attack lost the institute a week’s worth of research data and a week-long network outage. The initial point-of-entry for the threat actors was an RDP session using a student’s credentials. Marketplaces devoted to the selling of remote access credentials have been flourishing over the last couple of years and become a common source of accounts used by ransomware gangs to gain access to corporate networks.
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/a-student-pirating-software-led-to-a-full-blown-ryuk-ransomware-attack/