Every day there are a large number of cyber attacks around the world, many of them are caused by bots that try to access the basic parameters that are configured, for example, in systems such as routers and other types of devices that are used to connect various networks. But there are also others that are much more serious, such as those caused by malware introduced into a network, these are, for example, ransomwarethat the cybercriminals They are used to hijack data stored on a network and then ask for a ransom, although it is the first time we see it being asked for, literally, in bread.
Many of the cyber attacks who suffer daily companies They come to nothing, since they can use various protection systems that have behind them a series of people who analyze everything that could have a negative impact, but there are times when this security is not enough to stop cybercriminals. When this happens, alarm bells go off, and that is when companies begin to take measures to try to minimize the damage, investigating the problem and looking for a solution (as long as the solution is not admitting the hack and paying the ransom).
A group of cybercriminals uses ransomware to demand a ransom in baguettes
More and more hackers are coming together in extremely diverse groups to try to attack companies that do not dedicate enough time or money to cybersecurity projects to avoid problems, but a new group that has recently emerged has left us with a anecdote that surely many will not forget. And in its first action against Schneider Electric, a French multinational known worldwide for its energy and industrial automation products, it has left a lot to talk about, mainly because of the nod they have given to the company.
The group of cybercriminals has successfully managed to extract about 40 GB of confidential company information that would include critical data, including projects, issues and plugins, along with more than 400,000 rows of user data, but the most surprising thing is that they have asked for a ransom of 125,000 dollars… in baguettes.
The firm, for its part, indicates that they are investigating the incident, admitting that they have actually suffered a cyberattack related to unauthorized access to the Jira platform, being one of the key points that the group of hackers was looking for:
«Schneider Electric is investigating a cybersecurity incident related to unauthorized access to one of our internal project execution tracking platforms that is hosted in a sandboxed environment»
This is of great importance because the new group called HellCat has indicated that they do not want to “completely” extort companies, and according to what they indicate, in the event that the firm they have attacked admits that they have suffered a cyber attack of a certain magnitude within 48 hours, the ransom is reduced by half. We can imagine that the French company’s statements are enough for the group of hackers to reduce the $125,000 they were asking for by half, although $62,500 in baguettes is still a lot of money.
