Enlarge image
Construction site on the Continental site in Hanover: Investigation of the incident “with the support of external cyber security experts”
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/ dpa
Apparently, there has been a significant outflow of data at the Hanover-based automotive supplier Continental.
The "Handelsblatt" reported on Monday.
Accordingly, 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 a ransom 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.
Continental had already discovered at the end of August 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 blackmailers.
In August, the company stated that there had been no ransom demands.
Hacker group LockBit is increasingly attacking
The Lockbit hacker group had already caused a stir last week.
At that time, she announced that she had hacked the large French defense company Thales Group.
Lockbit is one of the particularly active and dangerous so-called ransomware gangs by the Federal Criminal Police Office.
In this scam, criminals 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.
German security authorities assume that many of the perpetrators operate from Russia.
(Read more about the criminal scam here)
more on the subject
Russian Hackers' Blackmail Trojans: A Nearly Perfect Crime
Embargo against Saudi Arabia: How a German arms company cheated on arms deals A podcast by Sven Becker and Sandra Sperber
Annual balance of the BSI: Ukraine war has exacerbated the cyber security situation in GermanyBy Theresa Locker
Ransomware: Cyber attack on Anhalt-Bitterfeld more serious than previously known
According to SPIEGEL information, investigations into Lockbit are already underway in Germany at the central and contact point for cybercrime at the Cologne public prosecutor's office.
According to data from the IT analysis company Malwarebytes, 430 Lockbit attacks were reported worldwide between March and August.
hpp/dpa
