The notorious cybercrime group Lockbit has blackmailed the German automotive supplier Continental. The perpetrators had previously stolen large amounts of company data. Apparently, there has been a significant outflow of data at the Hanover-based automotive supplier Continental, this was reported by the “Handelsblatt“, a German news site.
The hacker group Lockbit is said to have stolen 40 terabytes of data. That would be an astonishingly large amount, the complete outflow of which should normally be stopped by technical safety measures.
In addition, according to leaked chats, the attackers are said to have extorted ransom money from the company. According to the media report, the company basically confirmed the attack, but did not want to comment on the details. Continental has launched an investigation into the incident “with the support of external cyber security experts,” a spokesman said to the German news site “Spiegel“.
Continental had already discovered at the end of August 2022 that its own IT systems had been infiltrated. At that time it was said that the attack had been repelled. It is not known whether Continental actually paid the ransom to the Lockbit Ransomware group. In August 2022, the company stated that there had been no ransom demands. The LockBit ransomware group encrypt their victims data, making it unusable, but often making copies for themselves, they then demand large sums of ransom, often in the millions from large companies, before releasing the data again.
Other sources, which might give more info on this hack:
- https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/autozulieferer-staatsanwaltschaft-ermittelt-nach-hackerangriff-auf-continental/28795018.html
- https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/hacker-stehlen-offenbar-40-terabyte-von-continental-a-3c1d358a-7c79-48cc-b3cb-77ca82a598e7
- https://twitter.com/JanLemnitzer/status/1589938642092724224