Seiko Attacked By BlackCat

Uploaded on 2023-09-01 in FREE TO VIEW, NEWS-News Analysis

The ransomware gang BlackCat has claimed responsibility for a ransomware attack on Japanese Seiko Group Corp on August 10th and has now published samples of stolen data files as proof of its attack.

Seiko is a diverse electronics business, best known as one of the world's largest and most watchmakers. Seiko has 12,000 employees and an annual revenue of $1.6 billion.

The cyber criminals claim to have stolen 2 Tb worth of files, including employee information, production technology details, video and audio recordings of management meetings, emails, and copies of passports belonging to employees and foreign visitors.

Now, the ransomware group has published screenshots to demonstrate that they have obtained contracts and other corporate documents, confidential technical documents, passport copies, and emails.

Seiko has confirmed that on July 28th of this year, the Company suffered a possible data breach. It appears that some as-yet-unidentified party or parties gained unauthorised access to at least one of our servers. “Subsequently, on August 2nd, we commissioned a team of external cybersecurity experts to investigate and assess the situation... As a result, we are now reasonably certain that there was a breach and that some information stored by our Company and/or our Group companies may have been compromised." says Seiko.

Seiko and their working to verify the exact nature of the information that was stored on the impacted servers “Working closely with cyber security experts, we are now making every effort to prevent further damage and to ensure that our systems are secure against any similar recurrence." Seiko's customers and business partners are invited to make immediate contact if they receive any suspicious or unusual emails or notifications.

BlackCat has since claimed to be behind the attack on Seiko, posting samples of data that they claim to have stolen during the attack. BlackCat criticised Seiko's IT security and leaked what appear to be production plans, employee passport scans, new model release plans, and specialised lab test results. The hackers also leaked samples of what they claim are confidential technical schematics and Seiko watch designs as part of their extortion attempt.

Seiko is the latest victim of a sequence of large scale, damaging attacks on Japanese business and infrastructure this year, including a potential supply chain attack on customers of Fujitsu and the Port of Nagoya.

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Image: Sergey Samin

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