Acer is a Taiwan-based multinational electronics and hardware corporation that has recently been hit with a USD 50 million ransomware demand from a group of hackers that may have stolen confidential information from the computer manufacturer.
Yes! The REvil ransomware gang is mentioned to be behind this breach of security and it is reportedly demanding over USD 50 million from Acer, according to Bleeping Computer and multiple other reliable sources. The report further mentions that the hackers could have gotten entry by compromising the security of Microsoft Exchange Vulnerability to gain access inside the company’s network. As mentioned in a report by Engadget, this ransomware attack is one of the largest ever with a high demand of USD 50 million from the company.
Acer is a big multinational computer hardware company that has reported to earn over USD 3 billion in its last quarter of Financial Year 2020 and this level of security breach is clearly unacceptable. However, the hacker group that was behind this ransomware attack was the same that attacked on Travelex demanding USD 6 million in 2020.
The attacker group has evidently posted some images of the dark web portal through which they have entered the company’s networks this week. According to a report by Engadget, the ransomware hacker group has given the multinational Acer company till March 28th to pay up the amount of USD 50 million otherwise their highly confidential stolen data would be leaked out on the internet. However, some reports have also reported lately that on the discussion between Acer representatives and REvil hacker group as witnessed by Bleeping Computer, the attackers have also offered a 20% discount to Acer if they manage to pay up the amount past this Wednesday.
Acer is in denial to call it a ransomware attack and as it has told Bleeping Computer in a statement that some abnormal activity is observed to the relevant law enforcement and data protection authorities in several countries.
Furthermore, how is Microsoft involved in this breach of security? Well, Andariel cyber intelligence platform had tied the security breach to Microsoft Exchange vulnerability, according to Engadget. Microsoft had recently released four new patches for its Exchange vulnerabilities and it is however believed that the Chinese were the ones behind these attacks involving Microsoft’s Exchange flaws and other hacker groups such as REvil have taken advantage of the same and asked for a pretty hefty ransomware from Acer which is worth USD 50 million.
Stay tuned to know if Acer actually pays up the full ransomware amount or avails the 20% discount offered by the attackers.
