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New Delhi, March 21
Taiwanese computer and electronics maker Acer has been hit by a ransomware attack in which hackers demand $ 50 million, the largest known ransom to date.
According to Bleeping Computer, hackers have accessed Acer documents including financial spreadsheets, bank balances, and bank communications, allegedly compromising its network through a Microsoft Exchange server vulnerability that has made headlines for the past few days.
“The REvil group that carried out a ransomware attack on Travelex last year is also believed to be behind the Acer breach,” the report mentions.
The ransomware gang has announced on its data breach site that “they had breached Acer and shared some images of allegedly stolen files as evidence.”
“In the conversations between the victim and REvil, which began on March 14, the representative of Acer showed shock at the massive demand of 50 million dollars,” the report mentions.
Acer said in a statement that they have “reported recent abnormal situations” to the relevant authorities.
“Companies like us are constantly under attack and we have reported recent abnormal situations observed to relevant law enforcement and data protection authorities in several countries,” he said.
Acer added that “there is an ongoing investigation and for security reasons we cannot comment on the details.”
REvil’s $ 50 million lawsuit is the largest known ransom to date, the previous one being the $ 30 million ransom from the Dairy Farm cyberattack, also by the same hacking group.
Meanwhile, reports have claimed that five different hacking groups (including the China-backed hacking group called ‘Hafnium’) are exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s business email servers.
Microsoft has already released an emergency patch for its Exchange Server product, the world’s most popular mail server.
All incoming and outgoing emails, calendar invitations, and just about anything accessed from Outlook go through the Exchange server.
An investigation by Check Point revealed last week that at least 32 Indian organizations have been targeted by hackers who exploited vulnerabilities in unpatched Microsoft business email servers, adding that financial and banking institutions have been hit the hardest in the country. – IANS
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