According to the website of the cybercriminal group, Accenture, a global consulting company, was reportedly hit by LockBit ransomware gang. The hacker ground has set a deadline for the company to pay the ransom. Accenture (ACN)’s encrypted files will be published by the group on the dark web on Wednesday unless the company pays the ransom, LockBit claimed, according to screenshots of the website reviewed by CNN Business and Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm.
Accenture spokesperson Stacey Jones confirmed that a cybersecurity incident occurred Wednesday, but the Ransomware attack was not acknowledged explicitly.
“Through our security controls and protocols, we identified irregular activity in one of our environments. We immediately contained the matter and isolated the affected servers. We fully restored our affected systems from back up. There was no impact on Accenture’s operations, or on our clients’ systems,” Jones said in a statement.
According to Emsisoft profiles of the group, LockBit was first known as a ransomware gang in September 2019. LockBit is similar to other ransomware gangs that lease its malware software to third-party criminal associates. They then receive a cut in ransoms for placing the malicious code onto victim networks.
In 2020, Interpol issued a warning about an increase in attacks with LockBit malicious code. According to Emsisoft, the major victims of this group were Merseyrail (a UK railway network) and the Press Trust of India (an Indian news organization). In past, Dazeinfo reported about the increasing number of ransomware attacks is posing a bigger threat to the global community and various industries that rely heavily on tech.
The US government stated that Ransomware is a serious threat to national security and economic security. This statement was made amid several attacks on infrastructure and corporate targets. An attack by DarkSide earlier this year forced Colonial Pipeline to shut down its fuel distribution operation which, in turn, caused gasoline shortages across the country. The criminal gang REvil attacked JBS Foods, one of the largest meat suppliers in the world. JBS Foods ended up paying nearly $9 million to hackers. Then, the attack on the second group – this time targeting the IT software vendor Kaseya – infected an estimated 1,500 small businesses worldwide.
Emsisoft threat analyst Brett Callow said that it’s possible that former members of the REvil ransomware group could be involved in this. Following the sudden disappearance of REvil and subsequent Kaseya attack, some may have allied themselves with LockBit.
