Recently, Apple got attacked by a group of Russian hackers and was threatened to release the future product data of the company if they don’t agree to pay $50 million in ransom by May 1.
The full story
Reportedly, A group of Russian hackers who go by the name of REvil/Sodinokibi is responsible for the data breach of several Apple products. They stole the confidential files through a cyber-attack on Quanta computers. It is a Taiwan based company that is a key supplier to Apple and is one of the biggest laptop manufacturers in the world.
After getting access to the data of Apple products, the hackers tried to extort money from Quanta Computers. But when denied to pay the money by the company, REvil shifted its focus to Apple and demanded $50 million.
According to the message posted on a dark web portal, the group claims to have the data of several Apple products like Apple watch, Apple macbook air and Apple macbook pro. They have also posted 21 screenshots of the breached data including the schematics of the newly released iMac before its launch.The post also has an alarming message that “More and more files will be added everyday” if the ransom amount is not paid.
The screenshots confirm the legitimacy of the breach. Quanta computers has also confirmed that their servers were penetrated, by releasing a statement to Bloomberg. They commented “Quanta Computer’s information security team has worked with external IT experts in response to cyber attacks on a small number of Quanta servers.” They also said that “there’s no material impact on the company’s business operation” because of the hack. However, Apple has yet to reply on this topic.
Are the data of other companies also compromised?
This breach might also affect the clients of Quanta Computers which include Microsoft, HP, LG, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba and a few others.
The same post also mentions possessing the data of other big companies. The hacker wrote “Our team is negotiating the sale of large quantities of confidential drawings and gigabytes of personal data with several major brands,” Till now we are unaware about the data that REvil has its hands on and the data breach can be much more larger than we expect.
Data breach has been a very common thing these days. Last year, the user’s data of Esewa, South Asia’s first digital wallet, was leaked by some hackers. Esewa data breach was the biggest leak in the history of the company and they had to take some strict actions to secure the service.
According to us, the whole story looks like a thief trying to steal money from the other thief. Give us your opinion in the comment section.
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