The Stormous ransomware group is claiming to have stolen 161GB of data from Coca-Cola and they are offering to sell the supposed cache for 1.65 Bitcoin (approx. $64,000). Coca-Cola has yet to confirm the data theft, but says that it has initiated an urgent investigation.
According to Coca Cola’s global vice president of external and financial communications, Scott Leith, they were aware of this matter and are investigating to determine the validity of the claim. They are also coordinating with law enforcement.
Senior cyberthreat intelligence analyst at Digital Shadows, Chris Morgan stated that there are screenshots reportedly highlighting documents taken from Coca Cola’s network, but these cannot be independently verified. Some researchers suggested that many of the group’s attacks are either a scam or exaggerated their claims.
He also said that it is realistically possible that the Russian-speaking ransomware group Stormous may be involved in ‘scavenger operations,’ which indicates a cybercriminal actor attempting to extort companies whose data had been breached by another threat actor in a previous attack.
Ohn Bambenek, principal threat hunter at Netenrich, stated that the comparatively small ransom demand is also confusing. Usually Stormous is famous for stealing large amounts of data from its ransomware victims. But, as they demanded very low amount for the dump from Coca-Cola, it is skeptical that they have truly valuable information and that they are not selling it exclusively to anyone.
It is necessary for any organization in this kind of position to rapidly check for what information was taken and what its value is, to inform decision makers.
Image Credits : Data Breaches Digest
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