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MediaMarkt: So far no reference to the hack in the Darknet
Photo: LEONHARD FOEGER / REUTERS
Hive's online criminals don't stop at banks, logistics and healthcare - and apparently certainly not at electronics retail chains.
According to "BleepingComputer" and RTL Nieuws, the notorious ransomware group is responsible for the attack on MediaMarkt and Saturn, which led to the failure of numerous servers and systems in Germany and the Netherlands during the night from Sunday to Monday.
Initially, the alleged perpetrators would have demanded a ransom of $ 240 million for the release of the files they encrypted, it is said.
However, this requirement was immediately reduced to $ 50 million.
Hive usually threatens to publish internal data of the victims and tries to encrypt backups as well.
It is not publicly known whether the latter happened in the course of the attack on the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group.
As of Tuesday morning, there is no reference to MediaMarkt or Saturn or the parent company Ceconomy to be found on Hive's darknet page.
According to a spokeswoman, the online shops of the two brands are not affected.
In the shops, it says in a statement, some services are sometimes only available to a limited extent.
According to »BleepingComputer«, this includes the return or exchange of goods.
The US Federal Police issued a warning about Hive in August.
The group's ransomware was first observed in June 2021, it said at the time.
It is likely to be rented by the developers to various extortion groups - which is currently a common criminal business model.
Hive uses "a variety of techniques, tactics and procedures and therefore represents a significant challenge for defense and containment."
In August, Hive disabled the Memorial Health System in the United States.
The three associated hospitals had to postpone urgent operations.
A few weeks later, an Australian operator of private hospitals was also infected by Hive.
The latest victims include a bank in Mongolia and a transportation company that operates in North and Central America.
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